As today I will be holding my first gin tasting (and yes, by that I mean me holding court over 20 or so persons interested in the luscious liquor), I thought it appropriate to write about gin.
In this case it’s a local gin, based Cheshire way, oddly enough where my tasting is being held.
I’m sure you’re now beginning to see how appropriate this is?
The tasting was held in the newly refurbished basement of Cord Bar and was organised by the chaps at Mullen Bartending. The refurbishment has made it the perfect venue to chat to us about gin – it’s clean lines, tiles and relaxed spartan style meaning we could comfortably focus on the task at hand.
Hunters Gin is the work of Ian Cass, Jon Jones and Louis Smith, gin lovers of the highest order and all with a background in the drinks business – both trade and retail.
Their goal? A gin that was batch produced, high quality, but that could stand up in both flavour and character against other premium batch distilled gins, and embody everything they believe a gin should be.
Beginning with a neutral grain spirit, they then use high quality botanicals in their distillation process, initially steeping them in the spirit ahead of distillation for twice as long as most gin distilleries who use this method do.
To get a little geeky (only a little bit, I promise), the stills themselves should be considered works of art (I’m hoping to visit them myself, as I do love a pretty still. And no, that’s not a euphemism). Made by John Dore, the oldest distillery engineering firm in the world, they are over a century old copper pot stills, both of which impart their own imprint on the spirit.
Finally, the botanicals are sourced from around the world. Juniper from the Balkans, cinnamon from Madagascar and it leans heavily on citrus notes of sweet orange and lemon sourced from Spain. Making it a perfect Gin and Tonic gin.
So tasting wise? This is comfortable and light in citrus enough to sip on it’s own, but it really comes to life with a touch of tonic. The tonic brings out some of the depth to the gin, making it sit nicely on the back of the palate and the orris root and liquorice means lingers in the mouth nicely after sipping. Play with the garnish and you can bring out different notes, parsley and rosemary worked extremely well.
For those of you who prefer a cocktail, a touch of elderflower and some cloudy apple juice (it really should be the good Cheshire stuff) turns it into a Truly Hunters – a good refreshing drink for summery days.
Or you could go a little fancy and add yourself a little Prosecco and some lemon for something really special. Sadly this wasn’t on offer on the evening, but I think I’ll be heading to the Off Licence for a bottle of fizz.
To finish the night, we were gifted with the perfect handbag sized gin bottle. Retailing at around £9.99, this is perfect if you want to give it a try, but not pay for a full size bottle. Or if, like me, you’re slowly running out of room in your gin library.
Overall? If you see this on a bar, you should definitely give it a go. I recently spotted it in Black Dog NWS, where it went down very well with a relaxed dinner. But I’d be just as happy sipping it wearing a posh frock at something more formal.
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