We Live in an Unusual World...

Hendrick's Gin, photographed & Edited by Sofia Miranda

Hendrick's Gin is a cheeky little bottling, a New Western Dry style of gin distilled at William Grant's spirit production plant in Scotland.

Hendrick's is a small batch gin, well, small, small batch (the usual still size for small scale being 1,000 litres and the still used to produce Hendrick's being 450 litres). Hendrick's pride themselves on being a rather unusual product, and why not, the gin is bottled in a unique apothecary style bottle, distilled in Scotland and uses random botanicals such as chamomile flowers, meadowsweet as well as the distilled oils of rose petals and cucumber. To me the above aren't what makes Hendrick's unusual, the botanicals and the bottle certainly make it unique, but there are a fair amount of gin's being distilled in Scotland now day's. What truly strikes me as unusual is the use of two different methods of distillation and blending the two together to create the final product.

Blending spirits is a rather common practice in the world alcohol, brandies, whiskies and rums are commonly subject to blending, to achieve consistency, complexity or simply to cut costs by blending well aged products with some with not so much wood contact. As for gin, some gin producers prefer to distill each individual botanical separately and blend them together to give them more control over each flavour. What Hendrick's does different is to distill it's selected botanicals in two types of still, a style of pot still known as a Bennet still, and a carter head still. When using the Bennet still the botanicals are steeped in the neutral spirit before distillation, this method stews the botanicals and the final distillate has a more intense, full on deep flavour. When using the carter head still the botanicals are blaced above the neutral spirit and are infused as the vapour passes through them, this style of distillation produces a rather delicate and subtle flavour. The two distillates are then blended together, two get the best from both styles of distillation, before the distilled essence of cucumber and rose are added to the mix.

The resulting gin is a rather pleasant change from the norm, arguably one of the pioneering gins of the New Western Dry style. Hendrick's has a wonderfully fresh, floral aroma notes of rose petals, violets and a slight hint of lavender all spring to mind, the cucumber is less dominant than one would be led to believe although it does impart an almost melon like freshness, lovely subtle pine notes from the juniper but as one would expect from a New Western Dry these do not take centre stage.

On the palate its much of the same story, very floral with the rose being the more dominant than it was on the nose, juniper makes a welcomed appearance, also more dominant on the palate,  this is followed by a lovely citrus zing and a once again subtle fresh cucumber notes.

Hendrick's is a very unique, approachable gin, between this and its rather odd advertising campaign I believe it has done great things taking consumers out of their comfort zones and introducing them to a new style of gin.

We Hope You Enjoy

Umpleby & Brown

Arousing your Appetite with Gin...

Gin is one of those very flexible spirits, it can be used successfully in a variety of drink styles, one in which gin excels in is the Aperitif.

An aperitif is an alcoholic beverage used to excite the palate and stimulate the appetite, characteristics of a successful aperitif include bitterness, dryness or a certain level of acidity.

More popular gin based aperitif's include the Martini and the Gin and Tonic although some well known gin classics such as the French 75, Corpse Reviver #2  and the Negroni are also fantastic for this purpose.

The French 75 makes a perfect aperitif, dry Champagne, lemon juice and of course gin. Created sometime before 1919 when the recipe first appeared in print, accredited to a chap named Macgarry and is rumoured to be named after the 75mm Howitzer field gun used by the French during World War One. Broken down this drink is effectively a gin fizz with champagne in place of carbonated water.

I find what often lets the French 75 down is the general perception that because wine is being used to lengthen the drink it is acceptable to skimp on the gin... this of course is nonsense and a good healthy dose of gin is required to do this bubbly beverage justice. I personally love the fresh floral notes of Hendricks in my French 75's and feel as though a thin cucumber garnish does it much more justice than the overly used cocktail cherry, our preffered recipe for the French 75 is as follows;

The French 75

- Hendricks Gin - 30ml

- Lemon Juice - 12.5ml

- Sugar Syrup - 6.25ml

- Champagne - Top up

Thin Cucumber Slice Garnish

French 75

Shake all ingredients (except Champagne, that would get messy) then fine strain in to a champagne coupe or flute, garnish and drink whilst the bubbles can still tickle your nose.

  

The beauty of this drink is the mouth watering dryness it delivers when well balanced, the key is going easy on the sugar syrup especially when using a sweeter gin such as Hendricks, just enough to balance out the lemon whilst still remembering it is still a variation on the sour.

Where as the French 75 is a sparkling member of the sour family gaining it's palate stimulating properties from it's dry citrusy notes the Negroni is a completely different kettle of fish. It hails from the aromatic family of mixed drinks and receives it's ability to stimulate the palate from the bitter notes courtesy of the Campari.

The Negroni is one of those cheeky equal measure libations that is surprisingly well balanced, consisting of gin, Campari and sweet vermouth, three ingredients which blend together perfectly each contributing their own unique flavours, sweetness and bitterness. This is an incredibly complex drink with so many botanical flavours whizzing around, neither the gin, Campari or vermouth take centre stage  but embrace each other perfectly.

It is essential to use a big gin in this drink, something which can stand up and be counted among the other flavours, to this end my go to gin is Tanqueray 47.3%, I find this bold simple, Juniper led gin works wonders in the Negroni. As for the vermouth, Antica Formula is a sensational sweet vermouth, plenty of spice and enough sweetness to balance out the bitterness of the Campari.

The Negroni is a very simple drink and can be easily recreated at home without the need for specific equipment, the recipe is as follows;

The Negroni

Tanqueray 47.3% - 30ml

Antica Formula - 30ml

Campari - 30ml

Orange or Grapefruit zest to garnish.

Add all ingredients to an large whisky tumbler, add ice, stir a little then garnish with an orange zest. 

Another gin based drink perfect as an aperitif is one I discovered in Ted Haigh's Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails, the Corpse Reviver #2.

The class of drinks from which the Corpse Reviver #2 hails from were usually intended as morning after pick me up's, originally appearing in Harry Craddock's 1930 edition of The Savoy Cocktail Book where he notes 'four of these taken in quick succession will unrevive the soul again'. Although not conceived for this purpose this drink works perfectly as an aperitif, combining two classic aperitif liquors, Absinthe and Lillet Blanc with lemon juice, Cointreau and of course... Gin.

This drink can be very easily abused by a heavy handed host, make sure all ingredients are accurately measured and you will have a perfectly complex and refreshing pre dinner libation.

The Corpse Reviver #2

Deaths Door Gin - 20ml

 Cointreau - 20ml

Lillet Blanc - 20ml

Lemon juice - 20ml

Absinthe - 2 Dashes

Sunken maraschino cherry to garnish.

Corpse Reviver #2

Shake all ingredients over ice and fine strain in to a cocktail glass. It may make it easier to deliver stringent amounts of absinthe by decanting some into an empty bitters bottle.

All the ingredients shine through in a well made Corpse Reviver #2, the Cointreau, absinthe and Lillet add a pleasurable sweetness but do not over power the zesty lemon juice, allowing the drink to retain it's palate cleansing tartness. Until recently Tanqueray was my go to gin for this drink, however I have recently had the pleasure of sampling Deaths Door Gin. This bold, spicy gin works amazingly well in the Corpse Reviver #2 with the sweet aniseed notes of the fennel perfectly complementing the absinthe.     

The French 75, Negroni and the Corpse Reviver #2 are just three of a whole range of gin based aperitifs, others perfect for this purpose include the Aviation, the White Lady and the Martinez, libations we will be covering very soon...

Photography by Sofia Miranda

We hope you enjoy

Umpleby & Brown