Tasting Notes: PenrHos Rhubarb Gin (May 2022 Subscription)

Ahoy shipmates!

We’re in May! We made it through the colder months and summer doth begin! We’ve bravely voyaged through the seasons, surviving on dreams of holidays and cocktails. Surely then, it’s time for us to enjoy a summer gin?

I wanted to treat you to something with connections to early summer and one of the first harvests, in England at least, is that most bizarre and ridiculous animal - the rhubarb. Rhubarbs are migratory and once a year travel in large groups across the country. This annual ritual goes back centuries. We know this as history books talk warmly of villages organising rhubarb hunts as they passed through, where families would catch some of the slower juvenile rhubarbs of the herd, clothing themselves with their leaves and smearing themselves in the custard contained within the stalks.

No, wait a minute, I don’t think this wikipedia page I’m using for research is entirely accurate - let me find another source. Oh yes, here we are. I’ll start again.

In an area of Yorkshire known as the ‘rhubarb triangle’ the most prized rhubarbs are encouraged to be ready for early harvest by being grown in darkened buildings known as ‘forcing sheds’. The idea behind this is that rhubarb needs temperatures of less than 5º Celsius to emerge from dormancy, and then below 24º Celsius for significant growth. This allows the plant to develop outside for two years, so it can take in energy through photosynthesis. It’s then taken to the forcing shed. It’s said that it grows with such speed that you can hear it squeak and pop. Growing it this way ensures that the flavour is maximised and the stalks will be tender.

Rhubarb leaves’ infamous reputation for being poisonous stems back to World War One, when the British public were encouraged to eat it during food shortages, resulting in mass sickness and at least one recorded death. After that, it fell out of fashion, which was a far cry from Victorian times when people couldn’t get enough of those tasty stalks.

That’s enough of that, arguably fascinating though it is - let’s chat about this delightful gin.

This month, I docked the Nautilus at Bristol before taking a stagecoach North (an actual stagecoach naturally), avoiding highwaymen by talking country roads. I stopped at a farm in Kington, Herefordshire where they kindly fed and watered the horses. While there I tried their home-produced gins. Penrhos gin is made by two Herefordshire-based farming families - specifically two couples, a daughter and two dogs. This means they grow their own fruit for their gins.

Their dry gin is excellent, but for me it’s their flavoured gins that are really special, and the rhubarb is my personal favourite. On the nose, there’s soft fruits, juniper, and you’ll detect the tartness that rhubarb is famous for. On the palate, that beautiful tartness comes out but with a sweetness that stops it from tasting too sharp, and on the finish there are some herbaceous notes. However, you may not even notice those because you’ll be so surprised at how smooth it is. You’ll even be thinking twice about adding tonic as this is actually a great sipping gin. In fact it’s so smooth, your sips might turn to gulps, so tonic might be wise! I don’t think I’ve tried a gin that manages to hit the balance better in terms of smooth sweetness and flavoursome dry. I’m a pretty tough customer to please with sweeter gins . 

This week, I’ve included some plain and elderflower tonics. Rather than include a different gin as your mystery miniature, I’ve instead given you some Cointreau and a lemon so you can make a refreshing summer cocktail, the recipe of which comes courtesy of the folk at Penrhos.

The Rhubarb Brunch Martini

Pour 50ml of Penrhos Rhubarb Gin,

25ml of the Cointreau (that’s half the miniature),

25ml of lemon juice and one heaped teaspoon of marmalade into a cocktail shaker.

Stir until the marmalade has dissolved and then shake with ice, before straining into a cocktail glass!

Serve with birdsong and laughter.

Now stop reading, get shaking and enjoy that sunshine!

Love and barnacles

The Captain