Exclusive Launch: Sámara Gin Pineapple, Coconut & Passionfruit and Sámara Gin Volcano Coffee Bean
Celebrating Costa Rica with Sámara Gin
It’s always been important to us to champion craft distillers and gin creators, so when the opportunity came along for us to exclusively launch two new products on behalf of Eduardo and Ana at Sámara Gin we just couldn’t resist…
Sámara gin was created by founders Eduardo Montero and Ana Cammarano, a husband and wife team who came to the UK from Costa Rica four years ago.
The portfolio of Sámara Gin now includes 3 varieties, all of which have taken inspiration from Costa Rica and the heritage of this beautiful country. From soft, sandy beaches, to soaring volcanoes and tropical rainforest, Costa Rica has incredible diversity and beauty in its landscapes, plants and flowers. This botanical diversity also translates beautifully into gin.
Eduardo and Anna started creating their first gin which was a floral London Dry using Hibiscus, Honey and Rosehip , with botanicals carefully selected from common flowers and ingredients that flourish in this tropical Central American paradise. They have since developed two new versions: Sámara Pineapple, Coconut and Passionfruit Gin and Sámara Volcano Coffee Beans Gin. We are super excited to be the exclusive retailer of these fabulous two new products, and we just know you’re going to love them as much as we do!
What inspired you to begin making gin and what inspired your new range?
When we moved to the UK, we wanted to create a gin that evoked the smells, nature, adventure and beauty of our beloved homeland, Costa Rica. It is a country full of natural beauty and wildlife, flora and fauna, as anyone who has been will know. We wanted to transport you there with our gin, which is why we’ve carefully selected the botanicals in our gin to be those commonly found in Costa Rica.
The brand itself takes its name from the coastal hamlet of Sámara, a paradise on Costa Rica’s Nicoya Peninsula, which is a favourite among locals and foreign visitors alike.
We are now celebrating Costa Rica’s heritage with a portfolio of 3 different and exotic blends in which each of them represents a different part of our country. With our 3 Sámara family members we are “Celebrating Costa Rica” from the Pacific to the Caribbean, our mountains and our volcanos… never forgetting our iconic worldwide famous “Grano de Oro” (Our coffee).
Can you tell us more about your two new products?
Yes of course! Our Sámara Tropical Fruits Gin is an exotic blend that refreshes your mind and body with it’s perfectly balanced flavour from the pacific and the Caribbean coasts. Fresh, smooth and exotic, with sweet notes of pineapple and passionfruit at the fore and coconut on the finish, it’s both vibrant, refreshing and truly representative of Costa Rica
Tasting notes:
- Nose: Pleasingly fresh, fruity and exotic with a hint of sweetness.
- Palate: Coconut and pineapple with undertones of juniper and coriander that when blended with natural passion fruit extract, delivers a very well combination of exotic flavours.
- Finish: Soft and lingering, with bittersweet hints of pineapple and passionfruit.
Perfect Serve: Perfectly pair with Fever-Tree Mediterranean Tonic in a 1:2 ratio. Garnish with a nice tropical fruit (we recommend pineapple) to boost the fruity flavour or pink peppercorn.
Our Sámara Volcano Coffee Beans Gin is a very special edition of London dry. This gin celebrates the Costa Rican Heritage of “El Grano de Oro” also known as The Golden Bean. This gin embodies its namesake and is full of bold and warming coffee notes with notes of juniper, angelica and orange adding balance and depth.
Tasting notes:
- Nose: Earthy undertones of roasted medium coffee beans mixed with citric.
- Palate: Warm with full bodied earthy notes alongside juniper, angelica and orange to create a well-balanced Rooty and spiced dry fruit profile.
- Finish: Bold and warm.
Perfect Serve: Pair beautifully with a Fever-Tree Naturally Light Tonic in a 1:2 ratio. Garnish with Orange Peel and Thyme or Rosemary.
What has been your biggest achievement so far?
We are really proud to have been able to celebrate our Country’s heritage with this family of 3 different and beautifully ranged gins that represents every corner of Costa Rica. The image of Sámara and its exquisite flavours of every version simply create a bold and well complemented portfolio. The feedback and great comments from all the people that have tried Sámara is just amazing. We are really glad with the quality of our Gin – this is our most profound achievement.
What has been your biggest challenge so far?
We launched our first gin at the beginning of a pandemic. It’s been quite a challenge to introduce our brand in such a competitive market when all the local pubs and specialty stores closed. This is something that we obviously never thought that could happen, no one actually!!!! We are aware that 2020 affected so many small businesses so we are grateful that we are still here. We learned so much last year and we’ve been trying to do different things to leverage our sales through the online world.
We are still here working hard to keep going because we are certain that this an opportunity for us to grow and we really want to share Sámara with the world!!!
Tell us something we might not know…
Costa Rica contains 5% of the world’s biodiversity, a great wild nature like active volcanoes, and amazing sky colour rivers… which has inspired our gin. But also, the peace and bold moves from our people is something that inspire us every day, for example Costa Rica is one of the few countries in the world with no army, or that more than 99% of the electricity comes from renewable energy, or the facts that Costa Rica has been recognize few times as the happiest country in the world…. We take our inspiration from here… our nature, our people, our culture… Sámara is wild, bold and unique!
What’s next at Sámara?
We want to continue celebrating Costa Rica through our range, we think our profiles truly give a great representation of our culture and nature, but Costa Rica has so much to offer that we need to keep bringing to our consumers. Even more exotic and unique experiences, so we for sure will continue to innovate and bring these amazing flavours, smells, and adventures to our consumers!
We also want to stablish our portfolio in the UK and Europe, we especially want to ensure Costa Rica also enjoys this beautiful experience, so we are working hard to put Sámara in the hands of our friends and family in Costa Rica. Which due to the pandemic and impact it has been harder than expected.
