Boë selects two new gin flavours
Independent Scottish gin distiller Boë Gin has welcomed two new flavoured spirits to its award-winning range: Boë Raspberry & Sweet Basil and Boë Bramble.
Joining the existing range of seven expressions, the two new flavours highlight the distinct taste of berries while showcasing new favour combinations with ingredients found in Scottish gardens.
Inspired by the evolution of cocktails using herbs to create unique flavour combinations, Boë Raspberry & Sweet Basil Gin (41.5% ABV) uses ripe raspberries, balanced with the aromatic peppery notes of sweet basil. It is said to pair perfectly with tonic or lemonade over ice, topped with Prosecco, or incorporated in a longer cocktail serve.
Its Bramble Gin variant, which is also bottled at 41.5% ABV has been created following the success of Boë’s award-winning Scottish Bramble Gin Liqueur (20% ABV) and requests from gin lovers across the country. Boë Bramble Gin has been created with rich, dark berries and junipers, and features lightly spiced notes, creating a distinct aroma. The company claimed it partners well with ginger ale or can be enjoyed over ice with soda or lemonade.
Boë Gin has also redesigned its bottles to show drawings of each expression’s core flavours.
Boë Gin director Carlo Valente said: “We’ve had a lot of fun creating our new expressions, and we are very excited to launch them into our range. Each expression is full of flavour, perfectly balanced to ensure that each note is detectable and can be enjoyed in a range of serves to suit different tastes and occasions, bringing a splash of colour and flavour to your cocktails.”
Waterford Distillery bottles single malt whisky The Cuvée at 50% ABV
Terroir-driven Irish whisky producer Waterford Distillery has bottled its definitive, flagship single malt – The Cuvée.
Inspired by Bordeaux’s greatest chateaux, Waterford Distillery has applied the same methodology to create “the ultimate in whisky flavour complexity”.
To create The Cuvée, head distiller Ned Gahan layered together 25 individually distilled Single Farm Origins. Waterford’s
library of individual whiskies presented him with an unprecedented spectrum of natural flavours defined by Ireland’s soils and microclimates.
The producer said this has resulted in a whisky showing notes of red apples, breadcrust, green foliage, lavender, digestive biscuits, oranges, fresh mint, coffee cake, with a distinctly oily, textured palate delivering grapefruit, lemon zest, dark chocolate, cherries, granola and marmalade with an extraordinary length of flavour.
Waterford Distillery chief executive Mark Reynier said: “Coming from a wine background I’ve always been intrigued by how the greatest Bordeaux wines were made. Rather than generically bundling up their grapes into a single wine they went to the effort of making several individual wines instead, each expressing a terroir-derived personality of its own.
“Only after months of maturation are these component wines assembled to make a single profound wine of greater complexity, the Grand Vin. Why not
with whisky? This is the vision seven years in the making, the essence of the Waterford project.”
The new whisky is bottled in Waterford’s iconic blue bottle.
The Cuvée is bottled at 50% ABV with no chill-filtration and no colouring. It will be available in on and off-trade channels from this month’s onwards, with a RRP £70 and is distributed exclusively in the UK by Speciality Brands.
Pensador to release latest agave spirit drink this month
Mezcal brand Pensador will launches its first ‘Destilado De Agave’ (meaning agave spirit) called Pensador Especial this month.
This latest release is the third in the Pensador family and will form a limited series of agave spirits that have not been officially certified as mezcal.
Each batch of Pensador Especial will be completely unique to showcase rare varietals of agave plants and the differing production techniques of the artisanal producers who make them.
All the expressions will be sourced from the brand’s home region of Miahuatlán in Oaxaca and will display the minerality and aromatic intensity typical of the region’s terroir.
The initial batch of Pensador Especial is made using the Tepextate agave plant and is produced by Felipe and Ageo Cortez in Mengoli de Morelos, Miahuatlán. The drink is said to offer bold umami tones, bright citrus and fresh herbs, with a characteristic savoury finish – ideal for sipping.
The duo decided not to certify their spirits as Mezcal, meaning they are categorised as Destilados de Agave instead. This decision was made due to the small volumes they produce and their largely local clientele, meaning it would not make financial sense to them to pay the annual fees required to certify their liquid.
Pensador founder Ben Schroder said: “We understand certification is important to protect and nurture the rapidly growing industry but see the current structures of certification exclude key elements of mezcal culture; namely the independence of small producers and the historical context of the term.
“By working with both categories, Pensador hopes to protect the industry while retaining the flexibility to work with independent producers making weird and wonderful spirits.”
The drink’s fermentation process uses natural airborne yeasts, five days in an open-topped wooden vat with a one-shot distillation in a copper refrescador (water-cooled alembic). The 2015-produced spirit is bottled at 47% ABV. It is priced at £60 with 10% of proceeds from each bottle going towards charity and sustainability in the region of Miahuatalán where Pensador is made.
Homegrown honey used in new spiced rum Decorrum
New premium spiced rum Decorrum is made with homegrown honey from Manchester Printworks’ bees.
The rum also claims to be rich in rhubarb and vanilla, and is made from organically sourced, natural ingredients and contains no artificial flavouring.
Decorrum said its rum is “sexy with an edge of Gatsby” and is the ideal tipple for the Indian summer lasting into September.
The company also recommends using Decorrum to showcase cocktails, such pairing it with fiery ginger beer, fresh mint, lime and white sugar for a “tangy celebration drink” or serve this Caribbean-style rum alongside cola and fresh lime, for a refreshing and luxurious tipple.
The rum brand was founded during the pandemic by Didsbury-based Lucy Wolfenden, 27, who saw a gap in the market for a more “feminine” or “elegant” rum.
Up to £1 from every purchase is donated to Forever Manchester and with sustainability at its core, Decorrum adopts a bee with every purchase made to help protect the local bee population of Manchester.
Decorrum is available for RRP £29.99 from suppliers Uniquely Manchester, Haus of Drunks, Crafty Connoisseur and The Rum Company. Its 70cl bottle is 37.5% ABV.
All about the Jatt Life
UK spirits brand Jatt Life has expanded its range with a vodka that has a twist of lime.
Its Lime Zest variant is bottled at 37.5% ABV and include a touch of green branding to the business’s distinctive black bottles. It said the vodka gives “a refreshing juicy citrus uplifting flavour that is a great base for cocktails or perfect neat with ice”.
It is the third fruit-flavoured variety in Jatt Life’s vodka range, alongside forest fruits and orange & pineapple, which followed the launch of its original vodka in 2020 and, in common with the rest of the range, is five-times distilled using French grain, giving a smooth finish.
Jatt Life was set up last year by husband-and-wife duo Baz and Sunny Kooner who, inspired by Baz’s love of luxury vodka, set out to fill the gap in the market by launching a high-end aspirational brand that blended innovative flavours with inspirational marketing.
Jatt Life is available now at a host of clubs and restaurants across the UK as well as Australia, New Zealand and Canada, thanks to a social media campaign featuring supercars, glamorous locations and a host of celebrity influencers, including stars from The Only Way Is Essex and Ibiza Weekender.
It has also signed a deal with Birmingham rapper and MOBO award-winner Mist to be the face of the face of the brand.
It sold 100,000 bottles in its first year, while its blended Irish whiskey recently won gold in the Spirits Business Irish Whiskey Masters 2021. Jatt Life also launched its own pink gin, called Jatti Gin, in 2020.
Baz said: “We said at the very start that we wanted Jatt Life to introduce exciting flavours to shake up the luxury vodka market and our Lime Zest is the next stage in that journey.
“It’s a wonderful drink that combines the smoothness of the vodka with the refreshing taste of lime and is great on its own with some ice or with a mixer.”
This month, Jatt Life moved into a new 15,000sq ft premises and made a host of appointments that will allow it to bring its entire operation under one roof, complete with a purpose-built bar, distillery and indoor parking to showcase its line-up of branded vehicles, including a limited-edition purple Lamborghini Huracan Performante.
Clear path for Foghouse Spirits
A Scottish spirits business has launched its own brand range, kicking off a gin.
Mike Stuart who founded the Inverurie Whisky Shop in Aberdeenshire in 2015, has launched a new company named Foghouse Spirits, which will evolve in time to include a single cask whisky range and rum.
Stuart, 38, has taken his expert experience and knowledge of the industry and collaborated with the award-winning Lost Loch Spirits Company in Royal Deeside to create the small batch gin in micro copper stills.
Inspired by Mediterranean flavours, the handcrafted expression combines nine botanicals, including wormwood, which is prized for its distinctive aroma.
Taking inspiration from classic recipes and carefully considered ingredients, Foghouse Gin is said to deliver notes of rosemary and olive balanced with coriander and cubeb spice.
The company’s name derives from fog houses found across many of Scotland’s estates. These man-made shelters are found on hillsides where the lairds of the past would entertain guests and “escape the ordinary”.
Stuart said: “We’ve been working on Foghouse since 2019 and wanted to create something that would really stand out from the crowd not just in flavour profile but with the bottle itself.
“We discovered the most beautiful fog house in Aberdeenshire that overlooks a waterfall. It’s tricky to locate but worth it when you find it. It inspired us to craft flavours that would be instrumental in evoking a memory and transporting you to a special place, as a reminder of what makes you happy.
“We’ve employed a team of experts to really promote this new gin. As a result, we’ve already had interest from pubs, bars, hotels and restaurants around the UK that want to stock it.”
It is recommended to serve Foghouse with tonic and garnish with a sprig of rosemary and twist of orange to accentuate the Mediterranean notes.
Maverick Tea targets pubs for a brew
Maverick Tea is looking to become an alternative to beer in pubs across the UK.
A spokesperson for the company said: “We all know the great British public appreciate not only a good beer, but a decent brew too. Maverick Tea is a great option for premium pubs that offer breakfast and lunch.”
The company also stated “not everybody wants something alcoholic” and added Maverick Tea is available in 10 blends: English Breakfast, Decaf, Detox, Relax, Earl Grey, Lemon & Ginger, Chamomile, White Pear & Vanilla, Rooibos Infusion and Red Fruits, which are available in 100% biodegradable pyramid bags and loose leaf.
Go Solo
Remaining on the non-alcoholic drinks theme, Solo Coffee has launched its new Solo Espresso Shot, which delivers a coffee-shop-quality pick-me-up in a convenient bottled format.
The shot, which can be stored behind the bar in the fridge, is made from Solo’s award-winning coffee concentrate, and each shot contains 127mg of caffeine, with no sugar or artificial additives.
The company said: “The UK is one of Europe’s biggest markets when it comes to coffee consumption, with an estimated 95 million cups of coffee consumed in the UK every day.
“In a space traditionally dominated by specialist coffee retailers, almost 44% of Brits buy their coffee from non-specialists like supermarkets, fast food restaurants or convenience stores.”
Solo Coffee was founded by friends Theo Garcia and Alex Foss, with the aim of making coffee more accessible to everyone.
The journey began with a direct-to-consumer cold brew coffee, which began to gain traction online then bars started to use the cold brew in cocktails. In response, Solo created the coffee concentrate that works perfectly in Espresso Martinis. Finally, the espresso shot was born.
The Solo Espresso Shot comes in a 60ml shot bottle of espresso-strength cold brew coffee and is a single serve of speciality-grade espresso.
The company describes it as “a functional product for those that need an energy kick”. It has an RRP of £1.65 for a single shot or a box of 10 x 60ml Espresso Shot Bottles is £16.50.
New ginger ale range from Old Jamaica
Drinks brand Old Jamaica has unveiled a new range of ginger ales that have been designed to appeal to tonic fans because they pair well with gin, vodka, rum and whisky.
The company claimed the new Old Jamaica Ginger Ale and Old Jamaica Rhubarb and Ginger Ale variants are the only ginger ales on the market made with authentic Jamaican root ginger.
Old Jamaica has launched the new ales to meet increasing consumer demand for ginger ale mixers after its research showed one in four consumers already mix its existing lines with alcohol.
Old Jamaica added the ginger ale market is growing at 20% year-on-year “due to its versatility and consumers seeking an alternative to tonic” and said the reason was because it pairs well with darker spirits like rum and whisky but also works just as well with vodka and gin, or on its own. , at Old Jamaica senior commercial manager Terri Cooper said: “We firmly believe we have created a truly unrivalled and innovative ginger ale taste experience that supports our mission to offer tonic fans a better, all-round mixer option.”
A wide-ranging communications investment strategy will support the product launch and aims to broaden Old Jamaica’s brand appeal, increase awareness and position the brand as the authentic alternative within the soft drinks category.
Activity across 2021 includes a £1m national TV campaign, social media activity and influencer collaborations.
Fourpure adds Hazy Pale Ale to its portfolio
South-east London craft brewery Fourpure has added Hazy Pale Ale, a 4.7% ABV pale ale to its craft beer core range.
The new brew joins Fourpure Lager, Session IPA, Citrus Session IPA, India Pale Ale and Citrus IPA.
The Hazy Pale Ale is the first beer to launch from the brand since its rebrand earlier this year.
Fourpure brew master John Driebergen said: “Hazy IPAs started really gaining popularity in 2020 with craft drinkers who were after a less bitter, fruitier number than a classic IPA.
“It’s an easy drinking, soft and juicy beer that’s also super approachable for new craft drinkers and as part of our ‘Fourpure and Simple’ ethos, we knew a hazy beer had a place in our core range line-up.
“We used much of lockdown to test various recipes and iterations of this beer, and now that we feel we’ve perfected it we’re delighted to be launching this beer.”
Fourpure’s Hazy Pale Ale is available in a 330ml canned format with an RRP of £2.50 from Fourpure’s web shop and for trade delivery.
• If you have any new products you wish to feature in The MA's weekly round-up, please email gary.lloyd@wrbm.com.
