‘Most affordable spirit with most expensive ingredients’ launched

Rebel Rabbet, the London-based “category-defying” spirits brand, is launching what it claims will be the world’s most affordable spirit made with the world’s most expensive ingredients, including white truffle, caviar and orris root.

Called Rebel Exile Spirits (RES):3 End of Austerity (EOA), the 44% ABV spirit will retail for £49.99 for 70cl. Flavoured with Alba white truffle, the spirit is then chill filtered through Beluga caviar with vacuum distilled orris root.

Launched at the end of last year, co-founders Matt McGivern and Dylan Bell are aiming to create a spirits line that is not constrained by category restrictions.

The pair will be unveiling a new spirit each month this year. When the they’ve completed the planned 13-bottle series, they will be auctioning the collection and donating the money to a chosen charity.

Referring to the latest spirit, the press release states: “You can enjoy the elevated finesse of white truffle from the comfort of your sofa, barefoot, as your mink slippers warm by the fire.”

The tasting note also reads: “For us it tastes like truffle hunting on the back of a mermaid. Smooth and dangerous, like daddy’s money, or an investment in the USD. Best served brass monkey cold over a chunk of an iceberg but if the private jet’s having a service then mix with soda for a ‘Skinny Rich Bitch.’”

The range so far…

McGivern, CEO of Rebel Rabbet, is also a chemist, distiller and new product development specialist. Having worked for William Grant & Sons, he also helped launched London’s first whisky in 100 years at The London Distillery Company, based in Bermondsey. Bell worked alongside McGivern at William Grant & Sons as the digital producer for Monkey Shoulder. He now works as business development executive for The London Distillery Company, supervising brands such as Dodds Gin and Kew Organic Gin.

Bell commented: “The most important factors were pushing our spirit ideas as far as we could take them and building our spirits from the grain up. That’s why collaborating with local brewers, designers and producers was vital in the development of the RES series. We want to revive forgotten spirits and recipes in the most authentic way possible but also not take ourselves too seriously.”

The pair’s first spirits were made in collaboration with Bermondsey brewer Anspach and Hobday. They used Saison yeast to ferment a 103-year-old Irish mash bill recipe, which was then triple distilled into new make spirit. For RES1, the triple-distilled new make spirit was blended with quince, vanilla, pink pepper, cassia bark, coriander seed and liquorice. For RES2, the spirit was aged for three months in Bourbon barrels that previously contained triple sec.