When Gin is the Tonic
Talk about ‘good things coming in small packages’. The Wicked Wolf gin, which is the work of Pat Patel and his wife Julie Heap, is lovingly lovingly blended, filtered, bottled and hand-labelled by the couple in exclusive 25-litre batches. Patel who can trace his ancestors to India, and his wife Julie Heap shifted to Exmoor from London not too long ago.
There, the two–who have had careers in marketing and graphic design– decided to enter the currently trending world of artisan gin. They set up a copper alembic still in an outbuilding last year, and are currently making 300 bottles a week. Wicked Wolf combines 11 carefully-balanced botanicals (instead of the six to 10 that most fine gins have), all chosen by Patel. Apart from the essential juniper, the gin also has lemongrass, kaffir lime leaf, cardamom, hibiscus, lemon and orange peel, grains of paradise, angelica, coriander and cubeb pepper. The makers suggest serving it with ice and lime over a sprig of thyme to enhance the flavours. Alternatively, they say, “It is equally at home neat with a cube or two of ice, mixed with a quality tonic, in a classic gin martini or in a Negroni.”
Happy 200th, Lagavulin
Life is good when there are 8,000 bottles of a special cask-strength edition of Lagavulin wending its way to you from Scotland. With 2016 being the 200th anniversary of the founding of Lagavulin, the Islay distillery has released the special edition honouring the managers who made the brand what it is today. Aged for 25 years in sherry casks, the 25YO is a rich, big dram, with layers of smoke and dried fruit. Each bottle is individually numbered and engraved with the names of the 21 distillery managers who’ve worked at Lagavulin over the past two centuries, starting with John Johnston and Archibald Campbell, who supervised the distillation of the first drop in 1816.
The distillery hasn’t released a 25-year-old since 2002. It has also very rarely distributed anything totally matured in sherry casks. The cask and the malt’s advanced age make the red-hued 25YO drier and spicier than Lagavulin’s 16-year-old expression, which is aged largely in American oak casks. The new offering has an oily texture, with a bitter-sweet and gingery, slightly drying start. The palate is intense, with masses of charred wood, oak-smoked meats, honey, burnt treacle tart and ash. Those who don’t want to cough up the £799 that the 25YO commands can wait for the second instalment of the sweetly spicy Lagavulin eight-year-old that was launched earlier this year. That retails for about £50.