The Cotswolds Distillery gin is about to flow

The Cotswolds Distillery has finalised the recipe for its flagship Cotswolds Dry Gin - a London dry style gin with a Cotswolds twist -  and the first bottling will take place on September 19. The selected botanicals include the traditional base of juniper, angelica root and coriander along with Cotswolds lavender and bay leaf.

After weeks of recipe development (over 50 individual recipes created), this week the team at the Cotswolds Distillery took 12 of the best to a panel of experts at Campden BRI. In a blind tasting one of their final recipes was chosen as the best tasting gin over several major brands.

The Cotswolds Dry Gin finished recipe has a delectable blend of nine carefully-considered botanicals. The expression of the traditional London dry style comes from the maceration into pure wheat spirit of juniper, coriander and angelica root, which have been left for 24 hours to allow their flavour characteristics to fully infuse. Head distiller, Alex Davies and his team then add their unique botanical mix of Cotswolds lavender and bay leaf, grapefruit, lime, black pepper and cardamom seed into their carter head still for distillation, before finishing with naturally refined Cotswolds water.

The packaging and branding for the new distillery's products has been deisnged by brand and packaging designer Craig Mackinley, founder of Breeze Creative.

Owner, Dan Szor comments: “We’ve created something very special here; a classic well-balanced juniper-led gin with crisp citrus and spice. It’s delicious on its own, over ice. It’s robust enough to stand up to tonic and smooth enough to craft the ultimate gin martini.”

The inaugural release first bottling run is planned for September 19th and so will be available from the end of this month with an RRP of £34.95. Stockists will include quality wines and spirits merchants and online at www.cotswoldsdistillery.com.

The Cotswolds Distillery opened on 22 July 2014, and the first phase of this new-build project represents an investment of over £4 million. The ambitious vision by founder Daniel Szor for the first ever world-class distillery in the region is long-term and sustainable. It will create quality whisky, gin and liqueurs with artisan qualities and provenance, and pioneer the production of quality spirits from the Cotswolds.

Working with Daniel Szor and under the consultancy of master distiller Harry Cockburn, is a team of three distillers headed up by Alex Davies, formerly of Chase Distillery in Herefordshire. The whisky stills were sourced from Forsyths and gin still from Holstein, with long lead time planning and tailor-made specifications.

As an eco-conscientious individual, Dan Szor is committed to manufacturing and producing in the Cotswolds. Buying organic gin botanicals and barley, grown sustainably on a farm less than 20 miles away and sending it to be hand-malted at the oldest working floor maltings in the UK; Warminster Maltings, (both situated within the Cotswolds), Dan is keen to minimise the distillery’s carbon footprint.

Sales and distribution will focus on the gin from September 2014. The distillery will work with local and national distributors, and also drive export sales. 

Dan Szor will be talking about the launch and the packaging and branding development at The Drinks Report Drinks Symposium being held at Packaging Innovations, London on October 1.

5 September 2014 - Felicity Murray The Drinks Report, editor