World’s first gin aged in 100-year old white port barrel

The Dyfi Distillery in the Welsh village of Corris has released what is believed to be the world’s first gin aged in a 100-year old white port barrel.

Hibernation Gin, as does the rest of Dyfi’s range, features ingredients foraged in the local UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, including blackberries, bilberries, crab apples and lingonberries.

The gin is then precision distilled with a combination of local spring water and grain spirit, before being aged in the port barrel.

Hibernation Gin will be a very limited release, even by the microdistillery’s standards, due to the rarity of the barrel. Using just two 100-litre stills, batches are always small.

Commenting on the use of barrel ageing, co-founder Danny Cameron said that barrel-aged gin was not a new concept, “but is gaining in popularity.”

“What we wanted to do with Hibernation Gin was produce something with not only a unique and local botanical influence, but also use a barrel type which is completely new to gin,” he added.

Provided by Niepoort Vinhos, the barrel also reflects Danny’s personal love of Portuguese wine, having formerly been director of Portuguese wine specialist Raymond Reynolds and chairman of the Association of Portuguese Wine Importers.

This release completes a successful first year for Dyfi Distillery, the first commercial distillery in Mid-Wales founded in March 2016. The range now includes Dyfi original gin, described as ‘juniper forward, with wild-foraged bog myrtle’ and Pollination Gin, launched in June last year. Pollination Gin combines 29 botanicals, including 19 which were locally foraged, and was described by Danny as “a celebration of the natural cycle of nature.”