Geranium gin launched by Henrik Hammer

Geranium Premium London Dry Gin has been launched in the UK by Hammer & Son through leading UK wholesaler Coe Vintners

The brand is the concept of Henrik Hammer, who has been working with gin for many years, hosting gin tastings, seminars and as a judge for the gin category at The International Wine & Spirit Competition. Having tasted many gins he found that the spectrum was quite narrow. He felt that it would be “a challenge to create a gin that drew the extents of the‘London Gin predicate to the limits”.

His aim was to make a gin that was dry and at the same time aromatic, so that it could be used with both crisp mixers, such as tonic and vermouth, and fruity mixers like juices, berries and fruits.

Henrik had been thinking about the potential use of Geranium for a long time, the smell from the leaves are almost like a gin and tonic itself and geranium has been used for centuries for healing purposes.

Henrik’s father was a chemist who worked with essential oils for the perfume and food industry. Together they bought a 5 litre copper-pot still and set up a minilab in their house and began to experiment with the botanicals. After a few weeks they managed to find out how the geranium should be processed, matured and distilled to get the oils out that were needed. The challenge was to get the oils out of the geranium by distilling it in alcohol, to ensure that it remained a London Gin; normally the oils are extracted by vapour/steam pressure.

The botanicals are matured for 48 hours and then distilled in 100% pure grain spirit (English Wheat) spirit in a 100 year old copper pot still called ‘Constance’ at Langley Distillery, Birmingham – a 200 year old family owned gin distillery.

The result is a smooth and balanced 44%abv gin with a delicate taste of juniper, a crisp citrus-rosy aroma from the geranium and exotic notes from eight other botanicals.

Currently available through thedrinkshop.com & drinkon.com -  70cl £24.99.

1 January 2010 - Felicity Murray