Beach Spritz Duo (Bundle)

Description

GN3.25 Flying saucers on a boat

Perhaps unusually for gin, this had enough interest and flavour to be enjoyed neat. Panellists’ noses quickly identified juniper and pine freshness, before we picked up perfumed sweets (parma violets, fruit jellies, sherbet straws), boudoir suggestions of potpourri and lavender bath bombs, and orange peel and cloves in a wooden box. The ozone freshness and sherbet suggested flying saucers on a boat. The taste combined candy store sweetness (lemon bonbons, rose and lemon Turkish delight) with department store perfume counters and herbal hints of rosemary, thyme and green chartreuse. The finish stayed sweet but also became chalky and drying, conjuring up coltsfoot rock and cinnamon.

Batch 21 Dunnage nougat

What a tale of oak and fire we have here! We selected a wonderfully fruity Speyside single malt, which was maturing in bourbon hogsheads. We moved the whisky into a variety of custom coopered casks. In American oak we had new oak hogsheads made with a heavy toast and a medium char, and new oak barriques with a heavy toast (no char) and a medium plus toast (a little lighter, again no char). In French oak we opted for barriques in the same toasting specifications as the American barriques.

We found ourselves in a champagne frame of mind nosing neat, as we soaked gingerbread in the celebratory-worthy bubbly beside a classic kir royale cocktail with crème de cassis. On the palate, pears poached in pinot noir came topped with chantilly cream and vanilla custard, before a refreshing finish of elderflower sorbet. Following reduction one Panel member had torrone – Italian nougat flavoured with orange and packed with toasted almonds – in a dunnage warehouse, while others enjoyed caramelised cinnamon plantain. The taste was that of bergamot honey on creamy porridge with butter, as well as candied-and-coated-in-sugar yuzu peels.