The Cotswold's First & Only Distillery Creates Outstanding Natural Gin
Cotswolds Dry Gin is made in a rather unique distillery situated in a designated area of Outstanding Natural Beauty among the famous farmland of the Cotswolds. This five acre facility runs seven days a week to produce a number of artisan spirits including whisky and gin. The Cotswold Distillery isn't some kind of industrial behemoth though, it was designed to compliment the natural beauty of the area and great strides have been taken to re-plant indigenous trees and shrubs as well as grow some of the botanicals that go into the gin! The distillery is the creation of Daniel Szar, a combination of his twenty year love affair with spirits with his passion for the beauty of the Cotswolds. Daniel had a long an successful career in finance but dreamed of leaving the rat race of London behind and to create a product with his hands and be part of a community. His first experience of the Cotswolds was when he bought his family there to spend time together over the weekends; funnily enough, they stayed in a converted barn that's close to where the distillery is now situated! It wasn't long before Dan decided to move there permanently and planned to open the distillery when he realised there was a ton ton of barley growing nearby to male whisky from, not to mention botanicals to put in gin. Dan currently lives very close to the distillery, as do the rest of the team, and the distillery is committed to being as Eco-friendly as is possible. All of the production waste is recycled; spent grains of barley are used to feed the local cattle whilst other bi-products are converted to biogas at a nearby anaerobic digester. The distillery boasts an impressive eight solar panels on the roof of the warehouse and these provide the majority of the energy needed to power the equipment inside. Cotswolds Gin is crafted using a tailor-made hybrid Holstein still. It has an impressive 500 litre capacity meaning that the distillery has plenty of room to experiment with new recipes and flavours. Dan was keen not to just produce another boring gin so he hired an expert botanist to search for unusual Cotswold botanicals so that the gin would be unique and well balanced. They finally decided on nine wonderful botanicals to be distilled with pure wheat spirit: juniper, coriander, angelica root, Cotswolds lavender and bay leaf, grapefruit, lime, black pepper and cardamom seed. The result is a classic well-balanced juniper-led gin with crisp citrus and spice. The neutral wheat spirit is combined with Cotswolds spring water in the Holstein still and the base botanicals of juniper, coriander and angelica are then added to macerate overnight to really infuse the flavours. A greater volume of of botanicals are used throughout the process by Cotswold distillery than is the norm; this is to ensure that the gin is very aromatic and characterful on the palate. The other botanicals are then added into the still which is run very slowly all day to achieve the maximum depth of flavour and intensity.
We would definitely recommend this gin as it's delicious on its own, always a great sign of quality, and over ice. Due to the greater volume of botanicals used and the slow burn distillation method, it' robust enough to stand up to tonic and smooth enough to craft a great gin martini. Nose: Fresh citrus notes of grapefruit with earthy coriander backed-up by sweet floral juniper. Minerals, cracked black pepper and perfumed Cotswolds lavender. Palate: Clean pine spice from the juniper is followed by fresh grapefruit and coriander seed. Black pepper spice builds with a touch of dryness from the angelica root. Light mineral and eucalyptus notes from the bay leaf before subtle notes of lime and lavender. Finish: Clean and balanced with juniper, citrus and some cooling notes from the bay leaf and cardamom.