ENGLAND: The search for a better Gin
Cotswolds Distillery
Our first exploratory adventure to uplift American drinking palates was not to some remote, uncharted territory (that will come later!), but to England, our good neighbors across “the pond” with an illustrious (and sometimes notorious) 350-year history creating that tantalizing spirit, Gin.
Cotswolds Distillery
Seemingly overnight, a burgeoning movement of small batch, micro-distilleries are emerging there, led by entrepreneurial folk keen to bring the same principles of locally-grown, farm-to-bottle spirits with unique tastes to market that have become so popular here in the States.
Our journey began, innocently enough, in Bourton-on-the-Water deep in the Cotswolds a couple hours west of London. After watching ducks and their ducklings swimming in the gentle river that winds through this ancient town, we happily chanced upon the Cotswolds Distillery shop, where we were given directions through Stow-on-the-Wold to the distillery itself in Shipston-on-Stour. In addition to making excellent gin, the British certainly have a knack for naming towns.
While awaiting the aging of their single malt whiskey made from locally grown barley, Cotswolds Distillery is bottling a few gins (and other spirits), notably their award-winning Cotwolds Dry Gin. Their practice in tastings is to first offer a taste of each gin, and then to mix each with (Fever Tree) tonic. We were impressed with how the dry gin “opened up” with the tonic; happily, confirmed martini enthusiasts will also be pleased with the balance of botanicals.
Here’s a link for more information: https://www.cotswoldsdistillery.com/
TOAD: The Oxford Artisanal Distillery
TOAD: The Oxford Artisanal Distillery Lab
Our next stop was a much-anticipated visit to TOAD: The Oxford Artisanal Distillery. We were eager to stop by because their website (https://www.spiritoftoad.com/) and our email exchanges indicated that TOAD has the commitment to small-batch quality, integrity of local ingredients and craft processing, and dedication to creating superb tasting spirits that we are seeking to discover.
The icing on the cake was the extraordinary welcome we were afforded and the great good humor of all the staff we engaged with. These are clearly people who are excited about what they are creating and have a great deal of fun sharing it with their visitors. We were impressed with their new but growing facilities, featuring beautiful stills unlike any we’ve seen, and a laboratory where their distiller is currently developing what promises to be a knock-out absinthe.
We tasted all three gins currently in production: Oxford Dry Gin, Ashmolean Gin (named after Oxford’s venerable Museum of Art and Archeology), and the less dry Oxford Botanic Garden – Physic Gin. Each has a distinctive flavor; our favorite was the classic Oxford Dry Gin, which would delight any martini drinker, and would complement a host of gin-based cocktails.
Right now, these spirits are available only in the UK; plans are afoot for distribution to Europe. We would highly recommend a visit to TOAD, located just on the outskirts of Oxford, a short train ride from London. For more information: https://www.spiritoftoad.com
City of London Distillery
Next was our most intriguing visit of the excursion, to perhaps the most ambitious of the crop of newly launched distilleries in England. This was in the heart of the (former) empire, to the City of London Distillery and it’s COLD bar (a clever use of the distillery’s acronym). Located in posh Westminster, City of London Distillery has developed a full line of excellent gins (the first new distilling operation in London in almost 200 years), and serves them in a sophisticated, classy bar with the impressive stills behind glass overlooking the lounge.
From the bar and lounge, one can look thru to private rooms used for the highly popular tasting tours, and for real gin enthusiasts, individuals can create and bottle their own gins, using mini-stills and an array of botanicals.
The programs and presentation are creative, informative, and fun, but the key to it all is the quality of the spirits. City of London Distillery has created a palette of excellent award-winning products, including Dry Gins, an Old Tom, and a Sloe Gin. The bar features a G&T menu that pairs each gin with the tonic (or lemonade, with the Old Tom) and garnish that brings out its particular highlights. Their Square Mile gin made a very satisfying martini.
Definitely plan a visit next time you are in London. https://www.cityoflondondistillery.com/
These British distilleries were all launched in the past six years! They are making excellent spirits, and growing – in terms of their offerings and production capacity – in leaps and bounds. It won’t be long before they are ready to reach out to the US market.
SPAIN: The World of Sherry and a Vermouth
The next destination on this voyage of discovery was Jerez de la Frontera in Andalucía, the magical province in the south of Spain, home to the Sherry Triangle (an area bounded by Jerez de la Frontera, Sanlucar de Barrameda, and El Puerto de Santa Maria) – the only place in the world legally entitled to make and bottle that fortified wine. Jerez has been the sherry making capital of the world (the word sherry is an Anglicization of Jerez) since the mid-13th century; located just an hour north of the Costa de la Luz, Jerez is an exotic and delightful place to learn about and sample the exquisite tastes of this compelling spirit.
There are many Bodegas (or cellars where the sherry is made) in Jerez, the largest offer the visitor exquisite gardens, art galleries, meal programs and other attractions. We had arranged to visit Lustau – a medium sized producer that offers instead what we expected to be an in-depth personalized experience and simply the best-tasting product. We were not disappointed.
The making of sherry is a fascinating process. Listening to the description of the different methods that produce each style of sherry while walking among the rows of North American oak barrels stacked in dimly-lit 19th century storehouses with towering arched ceilings, the windows covered with woven leather curtains that keep out the strong sunlight but admit the breeze, and the musty smell of the wine and the oak enhanced by periodic wetting the floor to maintain the humidity necessary for the yeast to complete the fermentation, was the perfect prelude to a series of tastings in a more contemporary setting.
Most Americans are not familiar with the full range of sherry spirits. Although almost all (except the sweetest) are made from the same white Palomino grape, controlling the fermentation and oxidizing process produces sherries that are elegantly dry to intensely sweet: Fino, Manzanillo, Amontillado, Palo Cortado, Oloroso, and Pedro Ximenez (this last made from Muscatel grapes). For more information: http://www.lustau.es/en/
Before or after meals, paired with various foods, or later in the evening, it seems there can always be a right time to have a sherry. Our particular favorite, at least at the time of the tasting, was the elegant Fino.
Perhaps most intriguing of all, however, was an unanticipated surprise after sampling the sherries – a taste of Lustau Rojo Vermut. This captivating sweet Vermouth, relatively new to the American market, is made by combining the dry and nutty Amontillado and the velvety sweet Pedro Ximenez, and adding a selection of botanicals. Easy to see why Lustau Vermut was awarded “Best of Year 2016” by Wine Enthusiast. We think it will make an excellent Negroni and will stand very nicely alone on ice with an orange peel.
We made great friends, learned a ton, and had a lot of fun on this voyage. What’s better than that?
Lustau
Ready for the Lustau Tasting…