The Gin To My Tonic Club July 2021
Meet-the-Makers Virtually on Saturday 31st July 6.00pm-8.10pm
Can you believe we are already in month number seven of 2021? So far, we’ve featured over 30 different gins since the start of the year as part of our virtual gin-ventures, and we are about to add five more fantastic creations to this list.
As always, we are keen to showcase diversity and ingenuity, and that’s never been more evident than with July’s line-up. Inverroche will be joining us from South Africa, we’ll be tucking into an award-winning Navy Strength courtesy of Lucky Bee, and there’s more bang for your buck with a 10cl bottle of Vara Orkney Craft Pink Gin (as opposed to the usual 5cl). We’ll also be celebrating the traditional with Greensand Ridge and Biggar, both of whom produce superb liquid in their own unique ways.
Love,
Em & Paul – Co-Founders, Best Friends & Fellow Gin Enthusiasts
ON THE NIGHT - MIX WITH THE BEST
BIGGAR ORIGINAL – Fever-Tree Mediterranean & Orange Garnish
GREENSAND RIDGE LONDON DRY– Fever-Tree Indian & Bay Leaf or Lemon Garnish
INVERROCHE AMBER –Fever-Tree Aromatic & Orange Garnish
LUKCY BEE HENCH – Fever-Tree Indian & Lime Garnish
VARA ORKNEY CRAFT PINK GIN– Fever-Tree Elderflower & Strawberry Garnish
Please note that you may wish to purchase additional Fever-Tree Indian Tonics to replace the ‘flavoured’ Tonics recommended. These are recommendations of The Gin To My Tonic and Fever-Tree.
Celebrating 10 Years with Inverroche
In this fascinating masterclass, explore how in 10 years, the Invorreche distillery has grown from a small home industry to a flourishing and pioneering craft distillery, that is invested in its community and producing world class gins and spirits.
The Inverroche distillery lies at the confluence of the goukou river and the Indian ocean in the small town called Stilbaai, also commonly referred to as the cradle of creativity.
As the pioneers of South African craft gin, Inverroche Distillery was founded in 2011 by Lorna Scott and her family. Growing from strength to strength in the local community of Still Bay in the Western Cape of Southern Africa. Today the brand has three distinct gins, crafted using only a handful of the more than 9,000 Fynbos botanicals. Without our carefully selected balance of fynbos, we wouldn’t have the Inverroche that we know and love today.
Can you tell us about your gins unique flavour?
Here at Inverroche, we are aware of how big a part Mother Nature plays in our gins. Without our carefully selected balance of fynbos, we wouldn’t have the Inverroche that we know and love today.
The Cape Floral Kingdom is one of only six such biomes in the World. It is the smallest, but also the richest and most abundant with more species of plant being found on the slopes of Table Mountain than in all of Great Britain! It is these plants, known as fynbos, that we use to give our gins their unique character and flavour
We propagate, grow and harvest our own and also source fynbos from local farmers and organisations who already provide plant material to the broader industry for medicinal or culinary use.
What are you most proud of at Inverroche?
Gin is, at its core, a social creation. It is our belief that the creation of the gins themselves should have a social impact beyond the simple enjoyment of our products, and to create opportunity. It is this belief that has kept us heavily involved and linked to our community – as Inverroche prospers, so should the people of Still Bay.
As our gins quickly found an audience both at home and abroad, our extended family has multiplied to keep up with demand. We are extremely proud that just under 70% of our employees are indigenous women from the local area. The knock-on effect is dramatic, it means that at least 45 families are directly sharing in our success!
And, of course, the impact of the distillery is being felt by local business and tourism as more and more people are brought to Still Bay to discover for themselves the unfolding story of our unique gins.
What is your favourite cocktail recipe using Inverroche Amber?
Ingredients
4 Fresh Raspberries,
50ml Amber Gin, 15ml Fresh Lemon Juice
15ml Fresh Orange Juice,
5ml Rosemary Syrup,
2 Dashes Orange Bitters
Method
-Add your rosemary syrup & fresh raspberries to a shaker and muddle
-Add the rest of your ingredients, fill with ice & shake vigorously
-Fine strain into a coupe, garnish with an orange twist & enjoy!
Photo & recipe by @creativejuicesbartending
Breathtaking spirits the slow way with Greensand Ridge
Greensand Ridge is an award-winning, carbon neutral distillery specialising in Gin, Rums and Fruit Brandies, making spirits with provenance, using sustainable practices and turning surplus produce from local growers into fine spirits. Greensand Ridge is a distillery that puts quality and elegance ahead of glitz and glamour and if they’re to be known for anything, its that they can be relied upon for a proper spirit.
Founder & Distiller, Will Edge has been making alcoholic drinks in various forms all his adult life. He began using shop-brought lager kits which eventually led to full mash brews including his all time favourite, Brett-Fermented Flemish Red Ales. After serving up his craft cider at his wedding in 2009, Will got really serious with a Masters Degree in Brewing & Distilling and chose to make distilling his career as it combines so much technical science with an artful flavour process.
What inspired you to begin making gin / what inspired your range?
All our spirits are directed by the produce grown or growing nearby. We’re called Greensand Ridge after the hills that surround the Weald, from where we source our flavours. I grew up bezzing around on the Greensand Ridge so for me it’s also a very personal name.
Gin is a natural way to represent the flavours of the lands around us in a beautiful spirit. Anything with carbohydrate we can of course ferment and represent in its pure form, as with our apple brandy. But many of the aromas around us are bound in oils or resins, for example. The incredible complexity of some of those aromas lend themselves perfectly to gin.
Can you tell us about your distillation process, botanical make-up and tasting notes?
The backbone of my gin is eight local botanicals – Poppy Seeds, Oak Moss, and Hawthorn to give a woodland character; Gorse Flowers, Rosehips and Honey to give a floral character; Bay leaves to knit those two categories together and than Cobnuts to add silkiness to the spirit. These can be found growing natively within a mile of the distillery. My gin is like a walk through the Wealden woods, fields and orchards, with sweet/floral and woodland/herbaceous characters.
We also focus on mitigating food waste; we make most of our spirits from surplus produce from local farmers or the food system. In fact, the spirits we make are dictated by what is surplus or byproduct. Its our raison d’être. That’s why we specialise in fruit brandies and rums, spirits where the raw materials are local to us and not suitable for supermarkets.
What do you think your unique selling points are in three words?
1. QUALITY
To make world class spirits which are exceptional within their category. We have won many spirits medals including Gold in the World Spirits Competition for our Gin, Best UK Craft Rum for our Rum and Best Aged Gin for our Rye Cask Gin
2. PROVENANCE
To reflect the flavours and produce of the Weald region – the area bounded by the
Greensand Ridge and from where we get our name.
3. SUSTAINABILITY
To have the smallest possible environmental footprint, to have a positive impact on the environment by working with farmers and food producers to take quality surplus or byproduct produce for our spirits and to be a agent of change in our industry and with consumers
Small batch gin, Biggar mentality
Biggar Gin is a family business started by two brothers – Stuart and Euan. Both brothers moved away from Biggar for education and work but have slowly migrated back to the town to settle down. They combine tradition and innovation with a sense of place and their flagship product – Biggar Original Recipe Gin – was launched in April 2018 and since they have launched even Biggar things!
“Our small batch gin has a Biggar Mentality.”
Biggar mentality is all about a small scale, rare, batch philosophy that reflects a passion, ambition and taste which is big. From our home at the foot of the Tinto Hills by the Scottish town of Biggar local botanicals have inspired us to think big. Our local town has always welcomed innovation while respecting its past. It punches above its weight.
We hope you agree that Biggar Gin does too.
How was Biggar Gin born?
Biggar Gin was born from a late night conversation over a number of Scottish gins in October 2016 while we were on a family holiday to Arran. We loved the range and expression of new Scottish gins; we also love high quality spirits. We wanted to explore whether we could create something that was top quality and reflected our locality. In 2018 we launched our Original Recipe London Dry Gin. Thankfully our hero product was well received and within a few short months we received recognition when we won the London Dry Gin category of The Gin Guide Awards.
What is your perfect serve?
25ml Biggar Gin, 75ml Premium Tonic, Plenty of ice and a Twist of Orange peel!
Why not try a Biggar Collins?
Ingredients:
50mls of Biggar Gin
37.5ml apple juice
25ml lemon juice
12.5ml sugar syrup
Method:
Add all ingredients to a highball glass in the order above with plenty of ice and mix with a bar spoon – top up with soda water. Garnish with a slice of apple…
Can you tell us a little bit about your distillery?
During the past year we have been busy building our new distillery. The distillery is situated within the existing grounds at BGHQ and it fits beautifully into the landscape. It is surrounded by the botanicals we grow on the three acre site: rowan, hawthorn, rose hip and nettles. It’s not huge but we think it shouts out Biggar Mentality! We can’t wait to tell you more about it over the coming days, weeks and months.
What is next for you at Biggar?
We have lots of exciting plans and additions to our product range and we look forward to sharing these with you in the not too distant future. With any luck we will be attending events soon when it is safe to do so. We hope to see some of you in person whenever possible.
From an island Vara-way with Deerness Distillery
For this masterclass we are joined by owners and founders of Deerness Distillery, Stuart and Adelle Brown – producers of multi-award winning Orkney gin, vodka and liqueur since beginning their Deerness Distillery journey in 2016. The distillery itself is Situated in the beautiful Parish of Deerness in east mainland Orkney, and is unique as it is a self-built distillery, probably one of the few self-built distilleries in the UK.
With the help of family, friends and neighbours, Stuart and Adelle constructed the distillery right next to their home, imagine that – no long commutes on our wintery mornings!
As well as being a working distillery, Stuart and Adele have created a small but beautifully stocked shop, offering local and Scottish products and offer takeaway tea, coffee and snacks.
We saw on your Facebook page you made some amazing chocolate truffles using Vara Gin, do you have the recipe?
Yes of course, earlier in the year for Stu’s birthday I thought I’d try my hand at making some gin-based truffles for the adults in the house! I was really delighted with how they turned out, they could have looked a bit prettier, but they tasted fab!
I chose to use our Vára Gin; with its’ distinctive pink and orange Puffin label it means ‘become Spring’ in Old Norse, so I thought this was quite fitting for a March recipe. The Vára Gin is also able to carry its flavours through the chocolate, thanks to the heady blend of rose, elderflower and lemongrass botanicals.
I’d love to know how they turn out for you. Recipe: http://www.tamingtwins.com/gin-and-tonic-truffles-recipe
Tell us something we might not know
We are growing our own botanicals on site at Deerness Distillery, for our existing and future special editions gins including: Lime, lemon, orange, mint, cucumber, rosemary, lavender, sage, tyme and much much more.
It’s all about quality, sustainability and passion.
The odds are in our flavour with Lucky Bee
Lucky Bee are a Small Batch Craft Gin company based in Timperley that completely embrace the good old fashioned Mancunian work ethic. Distilling their very own gin using 13 different botanicals, most of which are sourced locally, Lucky Bee are proud of where they come from and want this to be celebrated and recognised throughout their brand.
Lucky Bee aren’t about ‘fitting in’ or following the mainstream, the complete opposite actually. They want to use our brand as a platform to celebrate individuality and teach people that it’s alright not to fit in and be the odd one out. Their message is simple, it’s okay to be different, but most importantly, it’s okay to be you.
“In today’s world, acceptance is more important than ever, and if we can challenge and change even just a few peoples preconceptions, and educate them at the same time, then that will make the world a slightly better place.
Welcome to Lucky Bee gin company, where the odds are always in…”
What inspired you to begin making gin / what inspired your range?
Having completed a tour at Manchester three rivers with an initial interest in to the process of making gin, our first thoughts were “how hard can this be” – how wrong were we!!!
Lucky Bee is inspired by the stigma attached to the number 13 and social pressures to conform with how society can make you feel – we wanted to spread the positivity of celebrating individuality and how its okay to be you and its okay to be different.
What do you love about gin / distilling?
We love being able to put our personal stamp and stories in to each run we do, sharing our lives and things we are passionate about through our Gin range with a platform to celebrate our ethos is important to us – if we can challenge and change even just a few peoples preconceptions, and educate them at the same time, then that will make the world a slightly better place.
Can you tell us about your distillation process, botanical make-up and tasting notes?
We use 13 botanicals, macerate over night in our T500 Stainless steel Boiler with Copper condenser and dome top. Our botanicals include three locally foraged Nettle , Dock leaf and Silver birch bark. A run can take up to 12 hours. We take the heads away to avoid that nasty chemical taste. The rest is a secret!!
Can you tell us about your Lucky Bee Hench?
The defining characteristics are Juniper hitting the nose straight away, , citrus notes of lemon and Orange exploding on the palate and leaving a subtle earthy undertone of nettle and dock, . A lingering woody tone from the Silver Birch makes this a real ginny gin . Clean nuanced flavors seem highlighted at the higher proof, leaving a smooth almond finish.
What is your perfect serve?
Lots of Ice a decent measure, Lime wedge and a premium Tonic.
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 28th August where we’ll be enjoying FIVE new gin creations.
LOVE OUR VIRTUAL GIN FESTIVALS? Why not subscribe and save with a choice of a monthly or bi-monthly subscription with added benefits, savings and rewards.
