Didn’t see a review yesterday? That is correct! And all of this because from today we will be talking about The Southwestern Distillery for a whole week. A beautiful range that convinced us both so much that we can really say that a new favourite has been added to our list! A new number 1?
We want to take you this week into the story of master distiller Tarquin and his family business, the Southwestern Distillery. And we will start with this beautiful blue waxed bottle.
Tarquin Leadbetter, the lovely gentleman behind this whole story. The founder and master distiller of this hand crafted Gin. He has his own perspective on the London Dry Gin and gave it his own contemporary twist. This Gin is made in the Southwestern Distillery, a small and independent company on the coast of North Cornwall. With characteristics such as quality, craftsmanship, small scale and tradition, they make this gin in small batches of 200 bottles.
The botanicals that Tarquin uses give this beautiful gin its unique taste. To start of the full proces, he will let the botanicals soak in a neutral grain alcohol for a full night. After a full night of resting, the herbs are ready to be warmed up.
I'll give you some botanicals and their origins. They use juniper from Kosovo, coriander from Bulgaria, iris root from Morocco, angelica root from Poland, liquorice from Uzbekistan, green cardamom from Guatemala, cinnamon from Madagascar and bitter almonds from Morocco. The fresh grapefruit, orange and lemon peel that he uses are picked in Europe during summer. When it is winter in Europe, he will pick them in South Africa. As you can see, we really speak of a beautiful list of botanicals!
As last after 12 hours of maceration, the master distiller will add 1 more floral ingredient. These are the freshly picked Devonshire violets from Tarquin's garden.
In the Southwestern Distillery there are 3 beautiful small copper boilers. (Tamara, Senara and Ferrara). An eight-hour distillation process, which is closely followed by Tarquin himself. After 8 hours of distillation, he adds pure spring water coming from Boscastle. As a result, the end product comes to an ABV of 42%. After adding the spring water, he let the gin rest for a few more days to allow the aromas mix together.
In order to underline the quality that Tarquin wants to bring, he will check every batch for taste and smell. He fills each bottle and put the cork on each bottle. He applies the well-known blue wax coating, the logo, his signature and the proof note before the bottle leaves the door.
It can't be much more personal and artisanal than this.
This gin won several gold medals and also got a wonderful 95/100 score from colleague Gin Ur Way. And this score is completely legitimate, what a great product.
If you are interested in this Gin or you just want to know more about it, you can always contact G&Teasing (Kurt Heddebauw)!
Cheers,
Gintasticbelgium
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