The Gin To My Tonic Club May 2021
Meet-the-Makers Virtually on Saturday 29th May 6.00pm-8.30pm
The Gin To My Tonic are back with our 5th Virtual Gin Festival of 2021. And if you haven’t heard the news, we are also the newly crowned winners of Best Virtual Gin Event at this year’s Gin Guide Awards. Sip Sip hurray! So there’s plenty to celebrate…
We are embracing some truly summery flavours this month, alongside classically distilled gins each with their own unique influences and stories. As always, we continue to champion local provenance, sustainability and sheer graft as we celebrate gins and producers that continue to push the boundaries. This month we are delighted to be joined by the creators, makers and champions of Explorer’s Gin, Penrhos Crafted Gin, Slingsby Rhubarb Gin, Sloemotion Hedgerow; Three Wrens Bloody Apricot Gin.
The weather maybe wet, but our gin is most certainly dry, so expect everything from foraging, fruit to cocktails, as we bring you a well-deserved bank holiday escape and liquid sunshine in your glass.
Whether you are a ‘Gin To My Tonic’ returnee, or this is your first time joining us, we promise to look after you….
Love,
Em & Paul – Co-Founders, Best Friends & Fellow Gin Enthusiasts
ON THE NIGHT - MIX WITH THE BEST
EXPLORER’S GIN – Fever-Tree Light Tonic & Orange or Red Grapefruit
PENRHOS CRAFT GIN – Fever-Tree Indian Tonic & Blueberries
SLINGSBY RHUBARB GIN – Fever-Tree Elderflower Tonic & Raspberries
SLOEMOTION HEDGEROW GIN – Fever-Tree Indian Tonic & Green Apple
THREE WRENS BLOODY APRICOT GIN – Fever-Tree Mediterranean Tonic & Blood Orange / Orange
PLEASE NOTE, you may wish to purchase an additional Fever-Tree Ginger Ale to pair with Slingsby Rhubarb Gin as an alternative to the suggestion of Fever-Tree Elderflower Tonic. Please substitute Raspberries for Orange in this instance.
6.00PM - 6.30PM: From The Orchards To Your Glass with Penhros Spirits
Penrhos Spirits is located on the Herefordshire Marches and is the coming together of two fruit farming families.
For many years, Founders Charlie and Dickie had often felt compelled to try and use the wasted fruit that the supermarkets refused to take, before stumbling across the genius idea of making gin. For the longest time they had been gin lovers, and one day they just asked themselves…. why not? Their wives Sally and Kate soon realised this was more than a mid-life crisis and joined the team.
What inspired you to begin making gin / what inspired your range?
It had always been a concern to Charlie and Dickie that lots of fruit was being wasted due to the supermarket rejecting any fruit that was not the right shape, size or colour. They wanted to use this fruit to creating something, initially cider came to mind, but gin seemed the perfect fit. After many (very fun) evenings experimenting they decided our blueberries, cherry blossom and honey for our London Dry Gin.
Can you tell us about your distillation process, botanical make-up and tasting notes?
Something that we are so proud of is being able to trace our key botanicals back to our farm, and fruit and honey really are at the heart of our spirits.
We use copper still distillation which alongside our blueberries helps to create an incredibly smooth gin. The initial distinctive fresh summer aroma warms the mouth as the Mediterranean juniper stimulates the senses. Light unassuming floral notes lightly cascade through the flavours as the combination of rose petals and cherry blossom come to the fore. Combined with our blueberries and honey, Penrhos Dry gives an exceedingly smooth and rounded finish.
What do you love about gin / distilling?
Everything!! The smell is absolutely amazing, and there is never a dull moment working with my family. It’s so lovely to be able to see the whole process, from planting the fruit, picking it, adding them to the still and bottling our beautiful spirits.
What is your perfect serve?
50ml Penrhos Dry
Fever-Tree Indian Tonic
Garnished with Blueberries & Mint
6.30PM - 7.00PM: The Slingsby Experience with Slingsby of Harrogate
Slingsby Gin is an ultra-premium, award-winning gin brand based in the North Yorkshire spa town, Harrogate. Since launching Slingsby London Dry Gin in August 2015, Slingsby has received more than 75 industry awards from around the world for its products and the full range now includes seven variants including three fruit flavoured gins, Rhubarb, Gooseberry and Marmalade, alongside an Old Tom Gin, Navy Strength Gin and a Vodka.
The Spirit of Harrogate flagship store and experience is located in the historic Montpellier Quarter of Harrogate. Visitors can sample the award-winning Slingsby spirits, discover the range of developmental gins and enjoy two unique gin experiences, including distilling your own personalised bottle of gin on one of the mini copper stills.
What inspired you to begin making gin / what inspired your range?
Co-founders, Mike Carthy and Marcus Black, were in one of their favourite Harrogate restaurants, Cardamom Black. They started sampling all the gins from the collection there and after polishing off an entire bottle of Tanqueray, it sparked an idea! To create our own gin that brought together all that Harrogate has to offer – the ‘Spirit of Harrogate’ was born.
In 1571, William Slingsby discovered the unique properties of the natural spring water from Harrogate’s Tewit Well. Since then, his discovery has brought visitors to the picturesque North Yorkshire spa town to restore body, mind and soul by relaxing, indulging and socialising. We wanted to capture the ‘Spirit of Harrogate’ and deliver it in a bottle for people to enjoy.
Can you tell us about your distillation process, botanical make-up and tasting notes?
The range is crafted using locally sourced botanicals, water drawn from the world-famous Harrogate aquifer, pure single grain spirit and a handful of the finest ingredients sourced from around the world. Key botanicals include primrose, sweet cicely, nettle, rhubarb, milk thistle, rosehip and Taylors of Harrogate green and jasmine tea.
Our flavoured gins use Slingsby London Dry Gin as the base, so they share the exact same botanical mix but are blended with a fruit distillate. The rhubarb, gooseberries and marmalade are all sourced from local producers in Yorkshire with the Yorkshire rhubarb sourced from Oldroyd’s Farm in the famous Rhubarb Triangle.
What is your perfect serve?
Our Yorkshire Rhubarb Gin is best paired with Fever-Tree Elderflower Tonic, served over ice and garnished with fresh raspberries. It also tastes great with Fever-Tree Ginger Ale.
7.00PM - 7.30PM: Era of Discovery with Downton Distillery
Downton Distillery is a micro-distillery located in Wiltshire between Salisbury and Fordingbridge on the River Avon.
Wiltshire has a rich tapestry of history dating back to the Middle Stone Age. A prehistoric settlement was found in the area of Downton dating back to 4,000BC. Since then, the Romans, Britons, Saxons, Vikings and Normans have all found themselves within this small village of Downton. However, the inspiration came from a character who was an adventurer, explorer, privateer, soldier, poet and a court favourite of Queen Elizabeth 1; his name was Sir Walter Raleigh. The queen gave him Downton manor as his first grace and favour property.
In 1584, Queen Elizabeth I provided him with a warrant to explore the New World, now America. When she came to stay at the manor in 1586, it was extended by Sir Walter Raleigh in order to make her stay as comfortable as possible. To do this, he towed one of his ships up the Avon to Downton, where it was dismantled, and the timber was used to build the great hall. The hull is in one of the bedrooms.
What is your perfect serve?
This is a tricky question as I love both a good G&T and a classic Negroni. I enjoy drinking Explorer’s with a light tonic water, as it allows the botanicals to shine through. The garnish is split between either grapefruit or orange peel, having wiped the rim with the peel. But a good Negroni is second to none using Victory Bitters and a Cocchi vermouth.
Can you tell us about your distillation process, botanical make-up?
I operate a 100L Copper Alembic still and use both direct and vapour infusion to create Explorer’s Gin. The botanicals are macerated for around 14 hours before the charge is heated slowly; fresh botanicals including lemon, orange, grapefruit, and western red cedar are added prior to conducting the final distillation.
I produce 100 bottles per batch and those who come and help me bottle get to sign the entire batch. It is a great way to de-stress and relax. Once the lockdown is fully over, we will post on Facebook when the next bottling session is – there has been lots of requests from volunteers.
Can you tell us about your distillery?
The distillery is situated in a wooden Grade 1 listed barn, which meant we couldn’t alter the physical structure when designing the distillery. This provided some challenges as a structure had to be built within the distillery to provide the framework.
Wooden panels surround the distillery alongside an original beam from Sir Walter Raleigh’s boat. The distillery has plenty of charm and character and is a wonderfully quiet place to work but can be bitterly cold in the winter as there are no radiators (except for the still, which gives off a bit of heat).
7.30PM- 8.00PM: Celebrating the Hedgerows of North Yorkshire
Founded in 2002, Sloemotion Distillery is an artisan business creating great tasting spirits and liqueurs. They are based at Green Farm, in the village of Barton-le-Willows, just north of York and near to the market town of Malton, Yorkshire’s food capital.
The business began almost by accident, when a farming initiative to improve wildlife habitats resulted in an abundance of sloes. To Joff Curtoys, an ecologist by training, who had grown up drinking his father’s home-made Sloe Gin, an idea began to take shape and Sloemotion was born.
The fields, rich meadows, woodlands and especially the tangled hedgerows in North Yorkshire provided the inspiration for the business and are still at the heart of every decision made.
What inspired you to begin making gin?
The business began nearly 20 years ago, in the rural surroundings of North Yorkshire when I was working with a local farmer aiming to enhance wildlife habitats on his land. One of the practices was to stop regular cutting of the hedges, which resulted thick bushy hedgerows, great for wildlife but also an abundance of sloes (fruit of the blackthorn) all over the farm; we had all grown up drinking home-made Sloe Gin and an idea began to take shape and Sloemotion was born.
Can you tell us about your Hedgerow range?
In 2015, looking for ways to make our Sloe Gin better we began to think about the botanicals that were used in the “base gin” and went back to forage in the hedges, looking for inspiration. The ensuing gin made with traditional gin botanicals and foraged ingredients was so delicious we decided to launch it as a standalone product, giving it the name Hedgerow Gin.
What is your perfect serve?
With our classic dry gin, Hedgerow Gin, our perfect service is with a Fever-Tree Indian Tonic, lots of ice and a slice of English Apple.
With our pink gin, Hedgerow Gin with Rhubarb & Raspberry, it’s is a super-dry rhubarb gin with a great tang of rhubarb and a gentle fruitiness from the raspberries – we recommend a sweeter tonic with this – Fever-Tree Elderflower pairs very well with a sprig of fresh mint.
8.00PM - 8.30PM: A World First with Three Wrens Distillery
Three Wrens are a beautiful boutique distillery nestled in woodland in rural Cheshire, located opposite a 12th century class with famous botanical gardens. As a small team three, they are the epitome of innovative style and creativity and pride themselves on creating premium single shot distilled gins in a copper pot still with a vapour basket. Lead by Master Distiller Nick Wadeson, they produce a range of world firsts such as Apple Crumble, Raspberry Modena Cask and Bison Grass to name but a few. The latest creation to join the Three Wren’s family is their Blood Orange & Apricot edition, which has become their best selling gin since it’s launch. Nicknamed ‘Bloody Apricot Edition’ this new release is distilled with juniper, dried blood orange, ginger, sweetgrass, apricot and coriander seeds.
Can you tell us about your story?
I’ve worked in the cocktail and spirits trade all my life, so the progression from bartender to distiller made perfect sense! I took the plunge and set to work studying and learning about the art and science of distilling and making gin.
I applied everything I had learned throughout my professional life and started to experiment with distillation and flavour pairings, leading me on the journey to making what would later be Three Wrens new and unique gins, with the first batch created in June 2019.
Can you tell us about your Gins?
Today, the Three Wrens range consists of six exquisite gins: Original Dry, Rhubarb, Apple Crumble, Raspberry Modena Cask Finish, Bison Grass and Bloody Apricot.
Juniper is at the very heart of each expression and always will be. This is a matter of principal and pride. Our key values are integrity and passion. We firmly believe our customers are looking for authenticity and credibility in the gin brands they look at. We are there to guarantee those promises, and to create exceptional liquids for people to enjoy – True Cheshire Gin. Our gins are all single shot distilled, meaning unlike many larger gin brands, we never use a concentrate.
How is your Bloody Apricot Gin made?
We took advantage of Blood Orange season in February of this year and have spent a whole month hand-zesting blood oranges, the smell in the distillery has been incredible! We distil the gin with Juniper, dried blood orange, ginger, sweetgrass, apricot and Coriander seeds. We then take toasted blood orange peel and steep it in the finished gin for a week, to slowly infused and extract the complex citrus flavour and essentials oils that give this such an epic aroma. The gin is then filtered and bottled at 40% abv. This gin is 100% natural with ZERO essences or flavouring agents.
What is the perfect serve for Bloody Apricot G&T?
50ml Bloody Apricot Gin
200ml Classic or Mediterranean Tonic
Fresh Citrus Garnish (both lemon and orange work well).
We also recommend using our Bloody Apricot to make a Spritz:
50ml Bloody Apricot Gin
150ml Sparkling Wine
50ml Soda
Grapefruit Peel Garnish
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH FEVER TREE
Fever-Tree began in 2003 with a meeting of minds and one simple premise: if three quarters of your G&T is the tonic, wouldn’t you want it to be the best?
It became apparent that Charles and Tim had both come to the same conclusion – namely that the growing prevalence and popularity of premium spirits had not been matched by what was on offer in the tonic category.
From the very beginning, Charles and Tim approached their business in a different way – there would be no compromise at Fever-Tree. Flavour and quality were of the utmost importance. This mindset led them on an 18-month adventure from the archives of the British Library to facing the wrong end of a Kalashnikov in the Democratic Republic of Congo and concluded with the launch of our Premium Indian Tonic Water in 2005, with the belief we still operate by today.. If 3/4 of your drink is a mixer, mix with the best. As well as quality, Charles and Tim wanted to put the choice back into the category.
The whole company has been built on innovation. Constantly developing new mixers, new flavours, new ideas, thus creating, an array of flavours to pair with the myriad of premium Gins, Vodkas, Whisky’s and Vermouths.
SAVE THE DATE
We are back on Saturday 26th June 6pm-8.30pm where we’ll be enjoying FIVE new gin creations.
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