Fentimans - World Gin Day

Celebrate World Gin Day in style with these awesome pre-mixed alcoholic gin drinks by Fentimans Ltd.

Perfectly balanced and ready to serve, these gin and tonics, and alcoholic gin beverages are great for any celebration and are easy to serve. Just grab a glass of your choice, add a few cubes of ice, preferably the right garnish and voila - gin served within seconds.

Living a busy life it's sometimes just that little bit easier to grab a pre-mixed bottle and bang it in a glass - as much as I do love to play around with the hundreds of gins on the market to find out what their perfect serves are. The convenience of these drinks is really beneficial, especially if you're looking to grab something from your house quickly before venturing over to a friends - and these drinks are great if you're not the most organised of people, especially when in a rush.

Having been established for over 110 years, family-run business Fentimans have grown their product offering from ginger beer and soft drinks to tonic waters and pre-mixed alcoholic drinks.

The rose lemonade and bloom gin is exceptionally sweet, as I had anticipated having tried the rose lemonade on its own. I could easily have one or two of these on a summers night, but I think after a while a drink so sweet would need to be swapped out for a good ol' regular gin and tonic. Oozing with floral tones - something I quite enjoy about this drink - the bloom gin and rose lemonade make this marriage a very sweet one.

The gin and tonic was completely different and much more crisp on the tongue. Bloom London Dry gin and Fentimans have partnered to bring their edition of the perfect gin and tonic to their customers in the easiest of fashions. Again, with slightly floral notes this gin is very much to my taste, but it's  the Fentimans tonic water which softens the sharp blow of gin creating within this beverage, making a  very delicious drink.

Both drinks are 275ml, a great size for transporting about, and for drinking of course. The ABV on both is 6.5%.

The only company in the UK to utilise botanical brewing is what makes Fentimans stand out with unique 3D flavours, the drinks have a depth of texture and a distinctive feel in your mouth and every drink takes seven days to brew using a combination of infusion, blending and fermentation of the natural ingredients. The best thing, none of their drinks have artificial sweetener, flavours, colours or preservatives All of the flavours are produced by hand from Chinese ginger root to rose oil from the Rose Valley in Bulgaria.

Also, the tonic waters were really tasty, and I really enjoyed the pink grapefruit tonic water. Having been served Rock Rose gin with a wedge of grapefruit, I partnered the Scottish gin with the pink grapefruit tonic water which went extremely well together. The slight bitterness of the tonic water complimented the sweet notes of the Rock Rose, creating a delicious partnership. I also tried the tonic out with Lone Wolf gin too and it worked really well.

The rose lemonade can be rather overpowering at times due to its pure sweetness, but partnered with a more earthy gin like Gordon Castle which also boasts notes of lavender I think this gin would go quite well with it. Any other earthier and more dry gins would also go really well too.

I decided to pair the original tonic water with Porter's gin and Esker gin as I felt these gins would be best suited to a plain tonic, and I was so right. Finish off with your perfect serve for each and you're definitely off to a winning combination there.

Whatever gin or alcoholic beverage your drinking to celebrate World Gin Day this year,  remember to raise a glass to the most fashionable spirit of the moment. And please, drink responsibly.

  For Now...

Just Julia

Esker Gin Tasting at Cognito Deli

Delving in a few gins, or being around gin in some shape or form seems to be a regular occurrence for me at the moment. Whether it's writing gin articles at work, creating new gin of the month features for the blog, or just going out and enjoy a tipple or two I can't seem to get away from the stuff. Nor am I trying to.

A few weeks ago myself and food bloggers Lost in Food (Michelle and Lesley) headed along to Cognito Deli for an Esker Gin tasting. After sampling half of the food menu before the event, we were looking forward to finding out more about this intriguing Aberdeenshire gin. Prior to the event kicking off we managed to squeeze a few gins in, Lussa gin, a newbie to the Scottish gin scene, Isle of Harris gin and Stirling gin too.

Coupled with a lemon slice, Lussa tasted divine. It was super refreshing and much more appealing than I had originally anticipated. Isle of Harris gin is always a strong choice, and with a nice big wedge of grapefruit it was a firm favourite. The Stirling gin with basil leaves in it was nice, but my palette prefers a more sweeter gin/garnish combination, so this was just a tad too savoury for me.

The event was anticipated to kick off at 7pm, however, with everyone ordering drinks as soon as they arrived and catching up, things didn't really get started until 7.30pm and we'd been enjoying our gins way too much to even notice the time. Everyone seemed in high spirits and with that Lynne and Steven Duthie took to the floor.

First up we were presented with an Esker Gin on the rocks. It wasn't until the gin started turning opaque that everyone questioned the couple on what was happening to the gin. It was really interesting to find out they has questioned just that so many months ago, and realised it was due to the silver birch sap used in their gin. When partnered with ice, it begins to turn the gin a cloudy, opaque colour which I would never have realised had they not said.

The brainchild of husband and wife team, Steven and Lynne Duthie, Esker Spirits was established in October 2015 after the gin loving pair had been experimenting with botanicals for fun and had managed to create their own gin. The botanicals in Esker Gin were carefully selected, focusing on the outstanding larder the duo had at their fingertips in Deeside, Aberdeenshire. After months of testing out different botanicals they eventually perfected the gin's recipe to something the couple were pleased with.

Both working in the oil and gas industry, the duo initially had no intentions on turning their passion of making gin into a business, however, as the markets changed, Plan B, turned into Plan A and the rest is history...

Turning to the branding and the name of the gin, the duo talked us through the process behind it.

"Esker is the ridge formed by the movement of a glacier, and where we live in Deeside our house looks out over an esker and we thought it worked really well.

"The branding very much focuses on the Deeside area, incorporating mountains, rivers, silver birch, juniper berries, tartan, castles and many more Scottish influences. The electric blue with its geometric line designs stands out from the crowd, and the clear bottle also shows off how pure the gin is." said, Lynne Duthie.

Steven Duthie, said: "There are over a dozen botanicals in the gin including pink peppercorn, cassia, silver birch sap, heather flowers, milk thistle and rosehip to name a few. We're the only gin in Scotland to use silver birch sap as a botanical and our jumper is sourced sustainably from Northern Italy. The reason we don't use Deeside juniper in our gin is purely down to its quality, as sadly, it isn't the best and it isn't readily available in abundance so we didn't want to damage the local ecosystem either.

"The silver birch trees are a main feature of Deeside and we are very lucky to be able to use the trees from the Kincardine Estate to get our birch sap. The trees can only be tapped once a year in Spring, so this will be the second year we will be tapping the trees, they haven't been tapped since last Spring. All of the botanicals have been chosen carefully and we're really proud of our product."

Handed an Esker gin and tonic partnered with a twist of orange zest, the couple went on to explain their distillation process.

Steve, continued: "We use a 100L copper still was flame fired on a naked flame. Some of the botanicals are in the pot for about 24 hours, and others are distilled in the vapour pan, it really just depends what each individual botanical needs."

Announcing their exciting news of moving into their first distillery in Deeside in the next few weeks, it is clear that the Esker brand has grown into something both Steven and Lynne could never have imagined it to. And, it's the only gin to be distilled in Aberdeenshire.

Throughout the evening small canapés were served to guests, although I think the team had cut back on giving us much due to the amount of food they had seen us  previously inhale. The food is delicious, it couldn't be helped. Guests were treated to meat and cheese boards, a selection of handmade breads and numerous amuse bouche.

Overall it was an excellent evening, and a great opportunity to catch up with some inspiring gin distillers. It really goes to show you that you can turn a much-loved passion into a business. There was a strong sense of doing what you loved that evening, so I did just that, I ordered another gin.

   For Now...

Just Julia

The Five Gin's of Aberdeen

Dry January is over which means now is the time for me to unpack my spirits collection, or more to the point, my gin collection.

Over the past year or so, the Aberdeen gin scene has grown dramatically, with five stunning gins gracing our palettes from across the city and shire. From the lowlands of the outskirts of Inverurie, to an underground room in one of Aberdeen's finest speakeasy's, the gin market is taking Aberdeen storm, and I'm loving every minute of it. Being extremely lucky in managing to grace the presence of all of the gin distillers behind the gins listed below, I wanted to highlight what makes these gins so special and why they'd make a cracking addition to any gin lovers collection. 

Gin has become the most fashionable drink of the moment, with it now being one of, if not the most popular spirits to purchase. Quicker and easier to make than whisky, gin is becoming the more favourable spirit to distill and with over 70% of the gin consumed in the UK coming from Scotland, - we're clearly on to something good.

No mater how much I learn about the process of distilling gin, or the best garnishes to accompany the many gins out there with, I cannot commend the individuals behind these delicious drinks more for the incredible lengths they go to to please our palettes.

So here's to putting Aberdeen on the gin map, one gin at a time....

Photo rights belong to Porter's Gin

Porter's Gin:

Born from a passion and love of good food and drink, Porter's, which was launched in December 2015 by three young gintrepreneurs, was the first gin to be distilled in Aberdeen city for over 100 years. With the help of the UK's oldest gin distillers, G&J Distillers, Porter's was brought to the market and is now available across the UK.

The classic London Dry style gin prides itself on its unique blend of traditional and modern  distillation techniques, utilising cold distillation methods to take advantage of the botanicals flavours which produce lighter notes when distilled at cooler temperatures. With the ethical sourcing of their botanicals at the heart of the business, every individual botanical has been used for a reason, and that reasoning, has resulted in the exquisite taste Porter's boasts today. The gin is well-known for using Buddha's hand and pink peppercorn botanicals in its recipe.

Porter's boasts a citrus flavour with a warm touch to finish on the palette. It is decadent and light, and is very flavoursome for being a London Dry.

Porter's Gin is 41.5% ABV.

Recommended serve: premium tonic water, ice, and orange peel/also cracking in a gin-based cocktail

Photo rights belong to The Teasmith

The Teasmith:

The first Scottish gin to be distilled with hand-picked tea, the gin, which the original recipe originates from rural Udny, Aberdeenshire, takes its inspiration from the rich heritage tale which links Aberdeenshire to the international tea trade. Distilled in the Strathearn Distillery in Perthshire, The Teasmith is the brainchild of Emma and Nick Smalley, who launched the gin at the end of 2016.

Main botanicals include; juniper, coriander, pure liquorice root, hand-picked tea and orange peel. All of its botanicals are distilled not once, but twice, and bottles from the second batch are now currently available to purchase.

The Teasmith boasts a unique flavour due to the tea leaves used, however, it doesn't overpower the other ingredients meaning it has a nicely rounded off finish.

The Teasmith is 43% ABV.

Recommended serve: premium tonic water, ice and a sprig of mint

Photo rights belong to Esker Gin

Esker Gin:

Created in Royal Deeside by husband and wife team, Steven and Lynne Duthie, Esker Gin was born from a loving passion for the alcoholic beverage, so much so, the duo decided to produce it commercially after 18 months of fine-tuning the recipe.

What's unique about Esker, is the botanicals it uses, especially its signature botanical, silver birch sap which is collected from the trees from the Kircardine Estate. The trees can only be tapped for sap in Spring, which means Lynne and Steve have to collect as much as they can before the season ends.

Esker is a refreshing, light, sweet (in my opinion) gin, which warms the palette and is slightly floral on the end. The artisan gin is distilled and bottled in Royal Deeside, Aberdeenshire.

Esker Gin is 42% ABV.
Recommended serve: premium tonic water, ice and a twist of orange zest

Photo rights belong to House of Elrick

House of Elrick:

The newest addition to the Aberdeen gin family, House of Elrick originates from the lowlands of Aberdeenshire at the House of Elrick estate which is oozing in rich in history.

The hand crafted, artisan, small batch gin boasts an array of citrus botanicals, as well as heather, sweet fennel and rose petals. The only gin to be made using the water from the most famous loch, Loch Ness, the taste profile of the gin is fresh, and slightly earthy. Advocates for championing the use of local farmers and suppliers, House of Elrick ensures quality is at the core of its product.

House of Elrick is a delicate gin, boasting a sweet, slightly floral finish, with a hit of an earthier taste profile added as a result of the botanicals and water used.

House of Elrick is 42% ABV.
Recommended serve: premium tonic water, ice and a twist of orange zest served as a helix (also rim your glass with the orange zest)

Photo rights belong to Indian Summer Gin

Indian Summer:
Another gin created in Aberdeenshire, this time in Huntly, Indian Summer gin uses one of the world's most expensive spices by weight - saffron - which is infused into the gin, giving the gin a warm, rich, aromatic flavour.

The gin presents a golden-yellow hue to it, unlike any of the other Aberdeen gins, and is bottled at a much higher ABV than the others too.

Indian Summer is a much spicier gin than the others, and boasts a more exotic taste due to using botanicals from across the world. It is the only Aberdeen gin to boast any colour hue to it, which makes it very different from the others above.

Indian Summer is 46% ABV.
Recommended serve: premium tonic water, ice and either a wedge of lime or a slice of lemon

I'd be really interested in hearing what your favourite Aberdeen gin is, and what garnishes you prefer to use in the different gins - I love adding a handful of berries to my gins and  also enjoy adding strawberries with black pepper to certain gins. If you haven't tasted any of the Aberdeen gins, what gins do you love the most? 

I'd also love to find out if anyone has ever used flowers as a gin garnish? I've been thinking of trying out rose petals or lavender in gin serves but I'm unsure if this would completely ruin the taste. I'm thinking about the whole sprig of rosemary concept with this idea.

  

  For Now...

Just Julia