SEVEN SISTERS GIN

In a combined attempt to merge an enjoyable evening with some charity fundraising I hosted “An Evening of Gin” at my house with the launch of a new gin on the market called “Seven Sisters”, produced by some friends of mine. Inspired and named after the Seven Sisters cliffs, one of the most visited land-marks in Britain. Unlike most other gins, the chalk terroir plays an integral part in its flavour-profile, as it contains a high percentage of grape spirit (30%), grown on the Rathfinny Wine Estate.

A “ginathon” is probably a first as a fundraiser, but I highly recommend it as a concept. Rob Buckhaven, Food and Drinks Columnist for The Metro, TV Presenter and Brand Ambassador for Rathfinny Estate was on hand to give us tips on how to make gin-based cocktails and how to produce the perfect gin and tonic (my life’s ambition).

Here is their splendid hand crafted gin made from a blend of grape and grain spirit, infused with the finest traditional botanicals of Juniper, Coriander, Angelica, Orris, Liquorice, Lemon, Bitter Orange, Angelica Seed an Hyssop:-

This was the team for the evening:-

Rob, giving us a lesson in how to make a Tom Collins:-

Friend’s birthday and “Let the evening be gin!”:-

Me doing my introduction for the evening:-

First taste of the blend, made up of 30% grape spirit, 70% GNS (grain neutral spirit) and 9 botanicals (listed above):-

My brother, his wife and me – she’s the one running the marathon for Amnesty International:-

The gin is distilled by Silent Pool, on the Albury Estate in the Surrey Hills, set up by former ITV Director, Ian McCulloch and drinks expert James Shellbourne. Their influence comes from Scottish whisky-makers, who manage to capture a sense of ‘terroir’ and ‘place’ within their drinks.

What is a London Dry Gin?

Harks back to the gin craze of the 1900’s in which London distillers invented the Coffey Still, which stopped the craze of sweetened gins by producing a dry, botanical-infused spirit
London Dry refers to the method rather than the location, it can be made anywhere in the world and be called a London Dry gin
Works to a complicated set of EU regulations; must be minimum of 37.5abv, no artificial ingredients etc.
The term London Dry was intended to protect the production method rather than the style
In short, it denotes a superior quality of gin than, say, the term ‘distilled gin’

A good night for Fever Tree tonic too by the looks of my recycling!

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