“Splice The Lemon” – It’s The Kerr’s Gin Tweet Tasting!
Kerr’s Gin was the subject of last nights @TweetTastings, which was once again ably hosted by Steve from The Whisky Wire.
The Gins sampled were:-
- Kerr’s Borders Gin
- Kerr’s Navy Strength Gin
We were very lucky to get a chance to try their brand new, limited edition Kerr’s Navy Strength Gin and it didn’t disappoint!
If you want to catch up on what all the tweet tasters had to say you can view their comments by searching for the hash tag #KerrsGin on Twitter.
So, what did I think?
Here are my tasting notes … and the one which was my favourite on the night!
Tasting Notes – Kerr’s Borders Gin (43%)
Named after William Kerr, a botanist from their home-town of Hawick. Kerr was one of the 19th century’s great plant hunters, sending 238 plants to Kew Gardens from his travels to Canton, Java and Manila.
Kerr’s Borders Gin is classed as a “barley to bottle gin” which uses its own malted barley spirit for re-distillation through its unique recipe of botanicals in its specially commissioned one-shot vapour Carter-Head still.
This Gin is made from local Scottish borders barley. Every grain is grown within 33 miles of the distillery (The Borders Distillery) and their Growers & Distillers programme has allowed them to form relationships with each of the 12 farms involved.
In addition, it is made with botanicals from around the world; Macedonian Juniper, English Coriander, Scottish Heracleum, Bitter Orange, Sweet Orange, Lemon, Cassia, Angelica, Myrtle, Angelica, Orris, Almond and Liquorice.
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Nose: Quite strong ‘corn-on-the-cob’ nose for me initially leading to creamy strawberries and nice citrus (mainly lemon.) Lots of biscuit comin’ thru later on. Palate: Mmm … creamy sweet, sugared lemons (like a lemon drizzle cake) with some very punchy. peppery spiciness! Finish: With tonic the lemons are holding out nicely, but are not so sweet – but it’s even more morish than when it’s taken neat! Overall: A classy gin to make the perfect cocktail with. As an alternative, add cucumber to your G&T instead of the usual – it’s crackingly good! |
Tasting Notes – Kerr’s Navy Strength Gin (57.1%)
Brand new and Limited to only 2,022 bottles, this is the first limited-edited Kerr’s Gin release.
The term Navy Strength harks back to the 18th century when the British Navy would mix spirits with gunpowder, then light with a match to test the strength of the alcohol. Today it usually refers to gins and rums bottled at over 57% ABV.
Produced using the same botanicals and locally harvested Scottish barley as their Borders Gin, the increased ABV of the Navy Strength, is said to master the balance of intensity and smoothness.
The rich blue design features state of the art printing technology, with Kerr’s Navy Strength Gin being the first Borders Distillery bottle to be completely paperless.
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Nose: Very herby and citrusy straight off the bat! A juniper / citrus ‘dreadnought’ for sure! Palate: Surprisingly smooth for such an abv. Juniper, creamy lemon, licorice coupled with muted spice that doesn’t bully the taste buds too much! Finish: Adding tonic turn this into a smooth, sweet n’ savoury drink – that hides it’s high abv very nicely – could be dangerous at a party though! Overall: It’s a very sippable gin this – maybe the higher abv has given it some mixer independance? Either way, neat or cocktailed, it’ll have you ‘riding on the ocean wave’ in no time! |
My Favourite On The Night
Out of the 2, I think it’s got to be the Kerr’s Navy Strength Gin – totally abfab – either neat or as a cocktail – devilishly powerful though!
Many thanks to Steve at The Whisky Wire (@TheWhiskyWire / @TweetTastings) for a great evening and of course, Kerr’s Gin (#KerrsGin), without whom!
My fellow Tweet Tasters on the night were:-
@TheWhiskyWire @Sake_Baku @dvdbloke @moonbites @B_R_Drams @sprungatom @fiona_whisky @PhilScott101 @FiShoop @whiskyRubhach @iheartwhisky @WhiskyUnplugged @_PickledGinger @RealDramRob @socialdrammer @Nescaphe @MashtunandMeow @rodbodtoo @drinkersite @DramofWar @Whisky_And1 @WhiskyWithMolly @whiskygraeme @DistilleryBikes
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