Review by Ceri Wheeldon
I often struggle to find presents for family members who have everything, but tend to pick up as ‘stocking filler’ presents local gin (last year from Cornwall) for my mother and whisky for my father, so that they can enjoy a slightly different weekend tipple – although I am yet to get the feedback on the welsh whisky I bought at a recent county show.
When I was asked if I would like to try Slingsby Artisan Gin from Harrogate , I knew the perfect person to do the tasting would be my mother as not being a gin drinker myself I wouldn’t really be able to tell how it differed from Gordon’s.
I’m not suggesting my mother is a drinker, but she took on the task very enthusiastically! as I opened the bottle ( the topper is cork rather than plastic) Mum decided that we should begin by sipping it ‘neat’. Not too sure how many sips of neat Mum had, but although she declared it to be ‘very nice’ but would be better with tonic, one sip of neat gin was all I could manage. As we prepared for out G&T’s Mum announced that she had a drink measure but never used it as it wasn’t big enough. She preferred to guess. I think her ‘guesses’ were quite large measures. Adding the tonic and ice, Mum decided hers needed a little more gin.
First sip of the G&T the taste of the gin was very subtle. By the third sip it had a definite kick and the citrussy taste came through.
A couple of weeks later we decided to try a gin based cocktail on Christmas Eve – again with the Slingsby Artisan gin. Adding an equal measure of vermouth, a splash of fresh orange juiice and an orange twist…delicious! There are gin based cocktail recipes on the Slingsby website
The verdict
Mum’s verdict? It was a very well rounded gin. Very pleasant with a hint of citrus and very smooth. A lot better than the proprietory gins definitely on a par with the premium brands.. On a scale of 1 to 10 she would definitely give it a 10. A combination of flavours not found in other gins.
The ingredients: Mostly local to Harrogate
“Our 17 locally-sourced botanicals supplied by Taylors of Harrogate and Rudding Park kitchen garden in Harrogate include: green and jasmine tea, severn sea rosemary, silver posie thyme, citrus thyme, garden thyme, rhubarb, sage, lovage, chervil, nettle and sweet cicely. Our internationally sourced ingredients include: rose hip, angelica, cassia, orris roots, coriander, liquorice grapefruit and Madagascan juniper.”…