As the spring days get longer and the weather warmer, thoughts are turning towards those long-awaited sunny evenings in the garden, with drinks in hand and great company. We’ve stepped up to the plate, and tried out a few new spring spirits for you to add to your drinks cabinet this spring – you can thank us later!
Suncamino Floral Rum
Suncamino – journey to the sun – is an apt description for this particular South African spirit, the world’s first floral rum. The rum which creates the base for Suncamino
started life in a distillery in Barbados where it is made and then aged to 8 years, before being shipped to South Africa and infused with Hibiscus, orange blossom and Honeybush to give its distinctive flavour.
On the nose, Suncamino has a sweet, vanilla scent, with a hint of citrus from the orange blossom. Once it hits the palate, orange and a honeyed caramel come to the fore, before giving way to a more floral finish.
A great choice over ice, or whip it up into a smooth rum Old Fashioned, sit back and relax. A 50cl bottle of Suncamino is available from Spirit.ed for £25.
Head & Tails Cocktails
If you like a cocktail, but want to take the effort out of the occasion, Heads + Tails have a range of ready to pour drinks that bring elegance, quality and ease to your soiree.
Initially created during the first Covid-19 lockdown, the bottled cocktails were so successful that Heads + Tails have continued the online off licence and are delivering bottled cocktails nationwide.
We tried the Maple Old Fashioned – a twist on the classic bourbon Old Fashioned – and the Cosmopolitan and enjoyed them both.
The Maple Old Fashioned had that anticipated bitter note you’d expect but was lifted by the sweetness of the maple. If you’re a fan of the more traditional blend, you might find that the maple hit is rather too sweet, but over plenty of ice it mellows a little to a thoroughly enjoyable tipple.
The Cosmopolitan is one of Heads + Tails signature blends, ably combining the bold fruity flavours to give an excellent balance of the sweet and sour notes – a classic, crowd-pleasing mix that never fails to hit the spot.
These ready-to-drink cocktails serve 6-8 (if you’re prepared to share) and are available from Heads + Tails from £34.
Cotswolds Dry Gin Essence
A good G&T in the sunshine is something to look forward to, but imagine all the flavour but with fewer calories and less alcohol. Cotswolds Distillery has released a gin essence that offers just that.
Just add 5ml per serving for all the flavour of a standard G&T, but with 1/10th of the alcohol content (there are just 0.23 units per serving) and just 14 calories.
Cotswolds Gin Essence is packed with fragrance but is still indisputably gin. The old favourites like juniper and grapefruit are there on the nose, and mellow pleasantly once added to the tonic. On the palate, warm spices and citrus come through, and just a hint of lavender too, with a touch of cardamom joining the juniper notes to finish.
Despite initial reservations – you can’t mess with a good G&T – this offers a great, lower alcohol alternative for this summer season, and all for just £18 a bottle from CotswoldsDistillery.com.
Purity Vodka
As we look for alternatives to Russian vodka, a great range of Swedish spirits has now launched in the UK, and Purity Vodka 34 is an excellent option for both cocktails and as a neat spirit. The ’34’ moniker tells the consumer that it has been distilled 34 times – when you consider that many high-end vodkas such as Belvedere and Grey Goose are distilled four and five times respectively, this sounds like it should be a good thing. And it really is. Add to that the organic status – it’s one of the few producers in the world who are certified as organic – and Purity has some definite positives going on.
Personally, I am a straight vodka fan, but I know plenty of people who have been put off drinking it neat because of the harshness of the spirit. You won’t find that with Purity Vodka 34. On the nose, it’s light and fresh, with a hint of sweet citrus notes. On the palate, it is smooth and mellow. Perfect to enjoy neat, over ice, or as part of a refreshing, fruity cocktail.
One of the more surprising elements of Purity Vodka 34 is the price – it’s available from Amazon.co.uk for £33 a bottle, which is great value for such a refined spirit.
Mermaid Salt Vodka
Created at the Isle of Wight Distillery, Mermaid Salt Vodka is just what it says; a vodka that is infused with a hint of local sea salt. It sounds like an unlikely combination, but the salt does give an interesting twist to the spirit. The salinity balances out the harsh edge of the neat spirit, leaving you with the distillers hope is a hint of the sea on your lips.
The Isle of Wight Distillery is committed to sustainability, with all products being plastic-free and carbon net zero. Every element related to bottling and packaging is sustainability sourced, recyclable or reusable, and all ingredients that go into the products are ethically sourced.
When taken neat over ice, the salt hit is most evident when the spirit hits the palate, but is subtle and fleeting. This vodka comes into its own when used in cocktails, where the salty tones help to elevate the flavours. The recommendation from the distillery is a Vesper Martini, so rest assured, we’ll be adding that to the list for when the sun comes out!
Mermaid Salt Vodkas is available from the Isle Of Wight Distillery at £40 a bottle.
Pink Marmalade Gin
Pink Marmalade gin is the brainchild of three friends who wanted to combine their love of event organisation with the desire to have fun. Colour-changing gin – the obvious conclusion, surely?
The process begins with salted pink marmalade, a 12-hour distillation and the addition of a mixture of botanicals including orange and pink grapefruit zest, kaffir lime leaves and chamomile, alongside the traditional juniper berries, creating this unusual gin.
Add in the magic of butterfly pea flower to change the colour from a vivid blue to pink once your mixer is added, and you have a party piece at your fingertips.
What makes this gin interesting is that given the constant references to marmalade and the heavy presence of both grapefruit and orange zest, that isn’t the initial scent that greets you when you remove the cork. Instead, you get a warming wave of those old faithfuls – juniper and a warming hint of peppercorns – before the citrus notes rise from behind.
Once on the palate, the zesty citrus comes through with a hint of bitterness, followed by vanilla and delicate florals of chamomile. Finally, the saline flavour from the salted marmalade rounds out the mouthful, wonderfully complimenting the grapefruit.
Pink Marmalade Gin would make a fun addition to your drinks cabinet this spring, adding a hit of colour to those sunshine-filled evenings, and is available from £30 at Pink Marmalade Gin.
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