Innehållsförteckning för Sep/Nov 2018 från Gin Magazine

Chilgrove Spirits is soon to launch its new ‘Bramble Edition Gin’. As with all Chilgrove’s spirits, the story of their Bramble Edition Gin starts not with blackberries but with grapes. They distil 100 per cent grape-alcohol with Sussex natural mineral water, along with twelve botanicals including blackberry. The resulting London Dry Gin is then infused with whole English blackberries for a full lunar cycle to fully capture the essence of the fruit. Co-founder of Chilgrove Spirits, Christopher Beaumont-Hutchings, explains: “Introducing blackberries carefully in these two separate parts of the gin-making process ensures that juniper remains at the forefront which, coupled with the bottling-strength of 42% ABV, truly earns its title of ‘Super-Premium Gin’. “Interest in fruit and flavoured gins is soaring and we are very excited to be putting our…

Dramatically rising from the northern shore of Lake Ontario, Toronto is not only the capital city of the province of Ontario, but it is also Canada’s most populated city. Diverse and broad, it’s a port city for immigrants from around the world, imparting a rich art and food scene, with a growing presence of great gin and cocktail bars. Long, bitterly cold winters mean that summer is deeply and passionately celebrated in Toronto, with many of the city’s bars offering visitors outdoor seating, patios or decks, on which to savour the warmer seasons and months. The cocktail renaissance was late to take over Toronto, with Vancouver, far across to the west of the country, playing a much stronger lead early on. However, Toronto’s cocktail scene is in full bloom today,…

The history of gin and genever is welldocumented from the 18th Century. However, before that, it’s murkier, especially when it comes to Dr. Sylvius, the man attributed with inventing our two favourite drinks. There are many defining moments in the history of gin and genever. The Gin Craze in the 1700s conclusively altered the course of gin’s history. The introduction of the weekly gin ration by the British Navy in the 19th Century is another, or the invention of the continuous still and its positive impact on gin production, all the while contributing to the decimation of genever. Going back further in time, there’s much to say about the Dutch King William III, who settled on the English throne in 1689, after his predecessor, James II, fled to France. It…

Unless you were living under a rock in June, you’ll have seen that this year’s World Gin Day celebrations were bigger and ginnier than ever before. All over the world, brands and bars hosted gin lovers at gin tastings, gin festivals and even gin-paired dinners. London saw the first ever official festival to celebrate the tenth year of World Gin Day, in collaboration with DrinkUp. London, who you may know as the brains behind London Cocktail Week, London Wine Week and London Beer Week! Over 2,500 people picked up festival passes to enjoy£6 cocktails in over 100 venues across the city, along with events in some of London’s top cocktail bars. With some incredible cocktails being dreamt up to celebrate, we thought it would be a great chance to round…

As the seasons roll into autumn, now is the traditional time to make jams, marmalades and other preserves, making use of the bountiful fruit of the warmer months and turning it into a sticky-sweet ingredient with a much longer shelf life. Because of this, I started to wonder whether gin could be used to make jam and it turns out that some brands are already in on the act – Four Pillars in Australia makes marmalade with the oranges it uses to make its gin, while in the UK, Pinkster produces a ginny raspberry jam with the leftover fruit from the production of its own gin. “When it comes to booze, we try not to waste a thing here at Pinkster,” explains Pinkster co-founder Will Holt. “The fresh raspberries that…

Scottish gin is set to make its mark in China, following the opening of Beijing’s first ever dedicated gin bar. The opening of the Pickering’s Gin and Seafood Bar on July 21, saw 100 local dignitaries, celebrities and influencers from China’s capital enjoy a combination of Pickering’s gin, alongside some of the best seafood – including Scottish oysters served with a Pickering’s Original Recipe 1947 gin and celery foam. Located in the Sanlitun area of Chaoyang District – one of Beijing’s hotspots for wining and dining – the purpose-built venue is part of a long-term export strategy for the distillery. Plans include opening up to 19 more Pickering’s Gin and Seafood Bars in cities across China. Developed with PandaBrew, trailblazers in the fledgling Chinese craft beer scene, the 270 square…

Gin; the great enabler. That’s probably a phrase not heard too often. How times have changed since Hogarth’s Gin Lane. What started out as financial prudence has turned into a local – and increasingly national – phenomenon at the Cotswolds Distillery. Dan Szor and his team began making gin so that their distillery could tick over while their whisky aged for three years. It turns out that this was an inspired move and their gin is now ready to go global. Success has been sustained at the Cotswolds Distillery – in 2016 its Cotswolds Dry Gin was awarded Best London Dry Gin at the World Gin Awards, while in 2017 it picked up a silver medal in the same category. It looks as though it’s not just the rolling countryside…

Christopher, can you tell us a little bit about the family’s history in gin? My great grandfather was a gentleman called James Burrough. He was a pharmacist who went off to America and Canada before returning to the UK in 1863. On his return, he bought a drinks company that fitted into half the size of this area and started making gin. He made all different things too, we’re not sure but possibly toothpaste. But that’s why we also made pure alcohol. In October 1987, James Burrough the company was sold, it had just evolved. I was very upset about this, so I bought back the pure alcohol side and then gradually started bottling and producing gin. On one hand I was very sad about this, but on the other,…

Gin is slowly starting to grow its presence in European duty-free shops and that can only be a good thing. A case in point is Rome Fiumicino, Italy’s largest airport, which recently ran a major promotion connected to Malfy Con Limone gin, a homegrown, Turin-based, family-owned gin made from Sicilian lemons and lemon peel from the picturesque coast of Amalfi. Malfy’s bottle is certainly very eye-catching, featuring a real cork stopper, a bright blue bottle label to symbolise the Mediterranean Sea and yellow bordering to pay homage to the lemons, which give this refreshing gin its citrus-kick. Other botanicals used in the Malfy production process include Italian juniper, cassia bark, coriander and angelica. If you do pick up a bottle on your travels, here are a couple of suggested serves…

Predicting what is on the horizon for the world of gin is perhaps a thankless task. Tastes change, while as our lifestyles vary, how we consume our drinks follows suit. Even the weather plays its part – we’ve been drenched in sunshine this summer, so has this encouraged us to reach for premixed cans, summer cups and orange gins? It is hard to say, however here’s what 2018 has stood out for so far. PREMIXED GINS: Hardly the new kids on the block, but there seems to be a growing presence of canned or premixed G&Ts, as we increasingly seek ready-to-drink options. Once just for established brands, the so-called ‘craft’ distilleries are getting in on the act, perhaps inspired by their beer counterparts. Expect to see these grow in numbers…

When genever-expert Phillip Duff was digging through the Sloane Manuscripts, he discovered what is currently accepted as the oldest known recipe for gin. The recipe which was recreated by a team of experts in 2014 and launched in limited quantities as Gin 1495 is grandiloquent – if not downright pompous – in its botanical selection. Among them stand ginger, nutmeg, galangal, cloves, cinnamon and cardamom. A virtual “who’s who” of the most expensive and impossible to acquire ingredients the world had to offer at that time. Spices that were once worth their “weight in gold.” In the modern day, many of these ingredients are found in kitchens across the world. International travel, improved agricultural practice and the opening of new places to grow these spices has vastly lowered prices to…

In the 17th Century, when the Dutch had a near monopoly on international trade by sea, ships from all over the world brought herbs and botanicals to Amsterdam. Not coincidentally, that’s also when the Dutch started distilling liqueurs and genever on a large-scale. “The botanicals weren’t just used in liqueurs and genevers,” explains Frederik Kampman, chief botanical officer at Lowlander Beer. “Actually, it was used a lot in brewing beer. Exactly this has been an inspiration for Lowlander Beer. We use botanicals to give extra character to our product. You can pair it with food, but also with spirits that use botanicals.” It was this realisation that led the brewery to an interesting notion. What if they could use their beer not just as a pairing ingredient, but instead as…

The art of distilling creates gin with fragrance, flavour and character, but creativity also requires control, which is provided by a vital technicality: the rate of distillation. This determines the pace at which intricate reactions take place and so has a profound influence on the resulting spirit. “The distillation rate governs how you concentrate the flavour. Slower rates give the alcohol time to extract a greater level of essential oils from the botanicals, resulting in a spirit with more intense aroma, flavour and mouthfeel,” says Alex Davis, head distiller, Kyoto distillery, Japan. The rate is controlled by the degree of heat applied to the charge (i.e. liquid being distilled). Gentler heat promotes a slower rate, while increasing the heat accelerates the process. “We experimented with distillation rates when developing our…