Spirits
Experience
re Edinburgh
By Fredric Hamber
charming raconteur. Gibb was raised
in Edinburgh and returned there after
a few years in London. Herewith is
what he offered up the afternoon
of my visit.
Caorunn
“This is a Scotch gin, it’s been
around for a wee while,” Gibb said.
What makes aorunn different is the
use of local botanicals: heather,
dandelion, roan berries, and the Coul
Blush apple. The tonic he pairs it
with is Fentiman’s, which, he
explained, is distilled and “needs
a strong gin to hold up. Lots of
gins have an acidic citrusy taste.
Caorunn works with Fentiman’s
because Fentiman’s has a lot of
citrus.” It is like uinine avored
lemonade. That’s also why Gibb
doesn’t use citrus as a garnish
with that combination. Instead
he garnished the drink with two thin
apple slices: Royal Gala and Granny
Smith to bring out the apple avor.
Gin Mare
This spirit is distilled 50 kilometers
outside of Barcelona with thyme,
olives, basil and rosemary. For the
tonic we used Fever Tree, a good
choice as “It is neutral and has
smaller bubbles.” The smaller bubbles
of Fever Tree let you taste more of
the gin on your palate. The garnish
used for this was orange, because
“It is not as sharp as lemon,” he said.
Monkey 47
Schwarzwald Dry Gin My personal
favorite of the gins I sampled, this
German spirit is made with 47
botanicals including cloves, so Hugh
says “You can pick and choose what
you want to bring out.” For garnish
he starts by rinsing the glass with a
hibiscus wash made from hibiscus tea,
then adds a clove-spiked orange slice.
The tonic was 1724 from Chile and
contains some Seville orange. “There’s
no point in spending money on a really
nice gin and then scrimping on the
tonic water,” Gibb advised. I loved the
complex taste while sipping neat, and
again after adding the tonic water
and the orange to the glass with a
trace of hibiscus–it was a slightly
sweetish cocktail that I would
probably drink too fast.
gives it a distinct profile, “Like
vermouth,” Gibb said. He rinsed
the glass in elder ower cordial and
added Fever Tree tonic to the gin
and pomegranate seeds as a garnish.
Suddenly the cocktail came alive.
I had been unenthusiastic about
this gin until the tonic and hint
of elder ower had been added.
At this point the table was getting a
little messy, two glasses per gin, the
small bottles of tonic water littered
about, and me there having a jolly
time with a serious expression on
my face, taking notes for Luxe Beat
readers. There was one more to go...
Sloane’s
Gibb called this Dutch gin “The most
traditional” of those I tasted. I could
detect a little licorice. “But not like
a bad bottle of Sambuca,” Gibb
G’Vine
Produced in France since 1976,
vine has a light, oral taste. It
contains ten or twelve botanicals
and is made from a grape base, which
65
interjected “it’s very subtle.” In lieu
of tonic water, we added Schweppes
Ginger Ale. Lately One Square
Edinburgh has been encouraging
the kitchen chefs to get into the
gin act with gin/food pairing
dinners, and because of the vanilla
avors Sloane s works well with
a rich chocolaty dessert—even
incorporated into a recipe!
The Gin Tasting Experience is
by appointment only. For more
information and to reserve a spot
when you’re in Edinburgh, go to
www.onesquareedinburgh.co.uk/
gin-tasting.
One Square
Edinburgh 1 Festival Square
Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Phone: 0131 221 6422