Top new products: January

Palmers London Dry Gin

To celebrate its 200th year of distilling, WH Palmer has launched Palmers London Dry Gin – its first eponymous gin brand, produced at its Langley Distillery in the Midlands.

The Palmer family has been distilling spirits for six generations, and gin since 1920, and is responsible for distilling more than 300 stock gin recipes, as well as creating bespoke ones for more than 80% of the UK’s artisanal brands of gins.

Palmers London Dry Gin is produced in the family’s copper pot still, named Angela, which was built in 1903, and is distilled with botanicals of juniper, coriander, angelica, cassia, liquorice, orris and grapefruit.

Master distiller Rob Dorsett said: “The resulting gin has juniper in abundance on the nose, blended with hints of coriander seed and a subtle dryness complemented by an edge of sweetness from orris. On the palate there are spice and citrus notes from the cassia bark and grapefruit, while the juniper lingers into the dryness of angelica finishing with further citrus notes.”

Langley Distillery is home to what the family believes is the UK’s oldest working copper-pot gin still. The Still Room houses seven copper gin stills, which are all named after family members and significant people who have worked at the distillery. Five of these are production and, the oldest, the McKay, dates back to the mid-1800s.

CONTACT: palmersgin.com

RRP £28.

Taylor’s Single Harvest 1968 Tawny

Taylor’s Port has released the fifth and latest vintage in its Single Harvest Port range – the 50-year-old 1968.
Drawn from the house’s supply of old tawny Ports, the 1968 swiftly follows the 1967, which was released in January 2017.

The wine was made in a tumultuous political year: the Vietnam War stepped up a gear following the launch of the Tet Offensive; Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy were both assassinated; violence marred the Democratic Convention in the US; Richard Nixon became president of the US and the cause of civil rights received an added boost with the Civil Rights Act and the first televised interracial kiss on Star Trek. It was also a great artistic year, with the release of seminal cinematic masterpieces such as Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey and album releases from The Beatles and Rolling Stones.

Conforming, perhaps, to this more creative side of the year, the Port is described as having, “a mature, opulent plum-pudding nose,” and being, “intense and powerful, with all elements in perfect harmony. Warm base notes of raisin and toffee mingle with a rich vanilla oakiness, aromas of walnut and marzipan and spicy hints of black pepper.”

CONTACT: Mentzendorff, +44 (0)20 7840 3600

RRP: £175.

Murmichan Scottish Absinthe

A Scottish absinthe has been launched onto the UK market by The Lost Loch Distillery.

Named Murmichan, the spirit’s production is based on Swiss traditions discovered by the distillery’s master distiller during a visit to Val de Travers in Switzerland – the birthplace of absinthe, but with Scottish botanicals.

Crafted with water from the ancient Pannanich Wells in the Cairngorms, botanicals, including grande wormwood, roman wormwood, green aniseed, fennel seed, hyssop, star anise, lemon balm, mint leaves, bramble leaves, lemon thyme and heather flower, are macerated in neutral-grain organic alcohol before distillation. Deeside heather, clover and willow-herb honey is also distilled into the blend to give the absinthe its unique taste. After distillation, a secondary maceration takes place for 20 hours.

Murmichan is an old Scots word meaning ‘wicked fairy’, which the team felt was befitting of the green spirit, which was popular with bohemian artists in the 18th century, and was also known for its apparent hallucinogenic properties.

CONTACT: Lost Loch Distillery, lostlochdistillery.com

RRP: £40.

Abor closures by Tapì

Making the most out of distillery byproducts is an innovative new range of closures for the spirits industry from Tapì, made out of distillation residues. Named ‘Abor’, meaning ‘origins’ in Latin, the closures use grape marc from grappa and Cognac, barley malt from whisky, sugar cane from rum, maize from Bourbon, juniper from gin and agave from Tequila as the raw materials for the eco-friendly closures, giving new life to materials at the end of their use that would otherwise be disposed of.

“Abor is a new way of conceiving design for the spirits market and is an opportunity to create brand awareness in an eco-sustainable way,” said Domenico Liberati, managing director of R&D for the Tapì Group. “Packaging for the spirits industry will never be the same again.” The Abor closures are made with a 50% plant-based mix. Tapi is seeking to work with distilleries to encourage them to recycle their residues so that they can be turned into stoppers.

CONTACT: Tapi Group, tapigroup.com

RRP: TBC.

La Rioja Alta Gran Reserva 904 2009

La Rioja has announced the launch of its Alta Gran Reserva 904 – a blend of 90% Tempranillo (from vines that are more than 60 years old) and 10% Graciano – from the 2009 vintage. Made only in exceptional years, the wine underwent a gentle pressing and crushing before the musts were fermented in stainless steel vats for 17 days, then aged in American oak barrels for four years, with the wine racked “by candlelight” every six months before bottling.

The wine is described as having a “bouquet of great aromatic complexity, with balsamic notes of vanilla, toasted caramel, mint chocolate, tea leaves and cinnamon that gives way to elegant notes of stewed fruits and prunes” with “well-tamed” tannins and a complex finish.

CONTACT: Armit Wines, +44 (0)20 7908 0655

RRP: £50.

Chapel Down gin and vodka

English winery Chapel Down has made its first move into the gin and vodka category with the launch of two expressions produced using grapes from its 2016 harvest.

The limited-edition range, called The Spirit of Chapel Down, includes a gin produced from distilled Bacchus grapes, and a vodka made from Chardonnay. The Bacchus Gin 2016 is infused with juniper, coriander, elderflower, orris root, angelica, lavender, orange peel and lemon. It is described as a “highly aromatic gin with heady aromas of citrus fruit and a herbal finish”.

The Chardonnay vodka meanwhile, is described as “expressive”, with “delicate citrus and floral aromas leading to a smooth, creamy palate”.
”We see a significant opportunity ahead in super-premium spirits for Chapel Down,” said Mark Harvey, Chapel Down’s managing director. “We have chosen to develop products with a simplicity of style that we think will cut through the competing noise in these high-growth segments. Our winemaker has developed products that faithfully reflect the balance and refreshing taste profile of the grape varieties from which they are made.”

CONTACT: Chapel Down, +44 (0)1580 763 033

RRP: £35 (gin), £32 (vodka).

Jameson Caskmates IPA Edition

Jameson’s new hybrid whiskey finished in IPA barrels has gone on sale worldwide after a successful trial run in Ireland, producer Irish Distillers has confirmed.

Launched in 2015, Jameson Caskmates IPA Edition is a triple-distilled Irish whiskey finished in craft IPA-seasoned barrels, resulting in a whiskey with the smoothness of Jameson and hints of light hops, fresh citrus and floral notes.

“This new addition to the Jameson Caskmates family was trialled in the Irish market exclusively since September 2017 and the response has been fantastic. We have no doubt that Jameson Caskmates IPA will be as popular throughout the world as it has been in its homeland,” said Jean-Christophe Coutures, Chairman and CEO of Irish Distillers.

CONTACT: Irish Distillers, irishdistillers@rtc.london

RRP: £33.53.

Juve y Camps Essential 2015

Essential 2015 is the latest release from Cava house Juvé & Camps – a single-varietal Cava billed as “a true celebration of the Xarel.lo variety”.

Targeted at younger consumers, Essential 2015 is made exclusively from free-run juice and is fermented in stainless steel tanks with specifically selected yeasts that encourage the expression of varietal aromas during alcoholic fermentation. After bottling, the base wine undergoes a second fermentation in bottle and lees aging in accordance with the traditional method.

Essential spends more than 15 months maturing in the producer’s wine cellars to “preserve the full expression of Xarel.lo’s primary aromas”, while developing “fine aging aromas that add complexity
and finesse”.

The result is a 12% ABV Brut Reserva Cava that is “particularly complex, creamy, lively and fresh, with a richly nuanced aroma.”

CONTACT: juveycamps.com

RRP: €14.

Bacardí X Major Lazer Rum

Bacardí has teamed up with electronic music trio Major Lazer for its first rum variant collaboration in the brand’s 155-year history.

Aged in the Caribbean for a minimum of three years, Bacardí X Major Lazer rum is described as having a “warm silky body and notes of tropical fruit, cedar, almonds and vanilla”. Major Lazer’s music has long been inspired by the Caribbean, with two of its members hailing from the island region. A limited-edition run of the rum will be available on Amazon in the UK.

CONTACT: Bacardí UK / Amazon.com

RRP £20.