Having worked with and subscribed to Craft Gin Club, I’ve been afforded the opportunity to grow my gin collection over the past year, and try a selection of spirits from independent brands across the world.
These six gin brands are bottles I’ve finished over the past 12 to 18 months, and therefore, have been thoroughly tried and tested in a range of cocktails, perfect serves and simple tipples.
Of these, I would say the Copperfield Gin is the most unique and perfect for Christmas, but the Silent Pool Gin is a gorgeous dry gin that you can drink all year round. All of them are stunning, though, and have seen me through the pandemic and allowed me to experiment with my mixology skills.
My quarterly subscription to Craft Gin Club works out at around £10 a month, which is what I would have paid for Netflix, a beauty subscription, and easily on cups of tea if I were still working in the office. It’s a really good value-for-money subscription, and one I’ve loved receiving each quarter.
So without further ado, here are six gin brands you should certainly check out this year.
Wardington’s Ludlow Gin
The Ludlow Elderflower, Chamomile and Lemon Verbena Gin was part of the Craft Gin Club’s March 2020 box, just in time for Mother’s Day.
The spring inspired gin ‘conjures up spring meadows and rolling hillsides of the Welsh Marches’ as well as the historic houses of Ludlow. Boasting light floral notes, a bottle of the 42% ABV gin costs £39.99, and has been once distilled in a traditional copper-pot.
Other botanicals used include juniper, coriander, angelica root and orris. It’s very fresh tasting, with citrus and floral notes.
Manchester Gin
The Raspberry Infused Manchester Gin is a gorgeous pink gin which featured in Craft Gin Club’s Valentine’s bundle.
A bottle costs £37.50, and is a smooth, fruity spirit perfect for summer, especially with some frozen raspberries and mint thrown in.
Made in Manchester, the gin features Juniper, coriander, lemon, grapefruit, dandelion, burdock, vanilla, elderberries, cassia, liquorice, grains of paradise, angelica and raspberries.
Copperfield Gin
Feeling festive? This gin was the Christmas special in 2019, and I located a few measures left late in 2020. The Copperfield Gin London Dry Volume Three is a 42% ABV spirit which costs £46.49 to buy.
The bottle is designed to look like a book, and is inspired by Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Made in Surrey, its botanicals include festive herbs and spices, such as juniper, orris root, angelica, liquorice, coriander, lemon peel, cloves, star anise, cinnamon, sage, rosemary, wormwood and orange.
As you crack open the bottle, it smells just like Christmas with notes of cinnamon and clove, and is a real winter warmer. This is perfect for a mulled gin, or just to get into the seasonal spirit! The bottle makes for a gorgeous gin lamp to add to the Christmas decs, too.
Silent Pool Gin
I was gifted the Silent Pool Gin by Moonpig for an event last year, and it was such a beautiful gin and incredibly smooth. It’s not often I’ll enjoy gin neat, but this one was something special.
This is the distillery’s signature gin, coming with a £37 price tag and 43% ABV. It features 24 botanicals which are said to create a ‘romantic, complex flavour’. It offers both floral and citrus notes from the lavender, elderflower and chamomile paired with citrus and kaffir lime, with earthy flavours of cassia bark and cubeb – sweetened with local honey.
Pennington’s
Made for the Craft Gin Club January 2021 box, the Pennington’s Lakeland Moon Snowfell Gin was the first gin of the year, and the first of my quarterly subscription to CGC.
The very indie brand loves everything to be as local as possible to their hometown of Kendal, in the Lake District. The wintery gin uses hyperlocal juniper berries, as well as local water and even local artists to create the labels!
It’s a 40% ABV spirit costing around £35 to buy and uses juniper, wintery fennel, almond, orange, lemon and grapefruit peel, coriander, angelica root, orris root, liquourice and cassia bark. To describe the tasting notes, I’d say a beautiful blend of citrus and spice.
Salcombe Gin
Another pink gin? Of course! This one is the Salcombe Gin Rose Sainte Marie, which was part of the Craft Gin Club Perfectly Pink bundle last summer.
The spirit is 41.4% ABV, and costs £44 a bottle. Inspired by the south of France, the blush gin is distilled on Britain’s south coast, in Devon.
It tastes of lemon, with herby flavours, with strawberry to sweeten the deal. The botanicals featured in this pretty pink number are juniper, lemon peel, orange peel, lemon verbena, rose petals, orange blossom, pink peppercorns, strawberries, angelica – and six other secret ingredients.
Which of these craft gin brands do you fancy trying?
