Batch-made distilled espresso martini launched

Cotswolds Distillery re-engineers classic Cocktails in new range of products, starting with a distilled espresso martini.

Completely colourless, the distilled espresso martini from the Cotswolds Distillery is an uncompromising batch-made cocktail that is pushing the boundaries of the bottled cocktail market. 

With bottled cocktails on the rise in the UK market, there are a growing number available that are pre-mixed, combining an array of spirits and ingredients to create classic cocktails that are readily available and easily accessible to consumers. Alex Davies, head distiller at the Cotswolds Distillery which is celebrating its first birthday this month, has taken this trend one step further with, not only pre-mixed bottled cocktails, but also pre-distilled bottled cocktails. Instead of combining various ingredients to create a cocktail, Davies has taken the raw form of the cocktail’s constituent ingredients and distilled them to create clear cocktail distillates.

For the Distilled Espresso Martini, Davies cold brewed a bespoke blend of coffee beans from local Cotswolds coffee roaster, Monsoon Estates. After a tasting of over 10 different coffee bean varieties, Alex decided upon a bespoke blend of two beans: the over roasted Malabar bean (rich smoky black chocolate flavours –nicknamed by Davies as the ‘Islay’ of the coffee world) and a lighter roasted Enorga bean (delicate milk chocolate, caramel and digestive biscuit notes with fruity undertones).

The beans were cold brewed for 24 hours and then filtered from the cold brew. This was then distilled in the same wheat spirit that the distillery uses to create its gin. Davies then individually distilled a citrus and spice mix, including orange peel and coriander seed, into more wheat spirit. These cold brew and spiced distillates are blended together in various proportions until the desired flavour is achieved. The resultant cocktail distillate is then diluted to 29% using refined Cotswolds water and a touch of sugar.

The sugar is added and the abv kept at 29% so that the bottle can be kept very cold in the freezer without freezing. It is then poured directly into a chilled cocktail glass, or into a rocks glass over ice, for a perfectly chilled, quality cocktail, every time.

When asked why he decided to create a distilled cocktail, Davies replies: “Because it’s fun! It’s something that hasn’t been seen before and is really unique – quite Heston-esque! It’s also an easy way for people to enjoy excellent quality cocktails at home with a bit of theatre. It’s not very often that someone can enjoy a completely colourless cocktail, especially not in their own home without going to a pretty cool concept bar.”

The Distilled Espresso Martini is the first in a series of distilled and re-engineered cocktails from the Cotswolds Distillery, the next in line being the Old Fashioned. The Distilled Espresso Martini is currently available in 20cl and 70cl bottles exclusively from the distillery’s onsite shop and soon to be online at www.cotswoldsdistillery.com.

13 July 2015 - Felicity Murray The Drinks Report, editor