Tasting Notes: Sibling Gin Winter Edition (Colourful Cargo Subscriptions/December 2020)
(please note: the first bit is the same as the tasting notes for Ribble Valley Winter’s Night as I’m not talking about the gin yet)
Firstly, as is customary and only good manners, I would like to offer my fondest welcome to any new recruits who are on their first voyage aboard the Nautilus. If it weren’t for this damn inconvenient plague I would invade your personal space and give you the most affectionate hug filling you with such a feeling of bonhomie, you would entirely overlook the fact that I carry with me the odour of seaweed and salty air.
Sadly I can not be with you in person, but please know your decision to choose my most wonderful cargo of the finest craft gins brings me enormous joy and is a choice you will never regret!
For those of my loyal shipmates who have been on board longer, I do hope you enjoyed last month’s Knut Hansen, that distinctive elixir from Hamburg which graced November’s cargo. I had been looking forward to sharing that with you for some time! Enough of the past! What wonders do I deliver presently?
The Sibling distillery is so named after the two brothers and two sisters who run it from their base in Cheltenham. They are committed to the art of gin and their operation takes the best parts of tradition and modernity. They refuse to start with a bought-in neutral spirit as many do and make their own high quality vodka as the base spirit. They then vapour infuse their gin into being, and you’re in for a treat of the senses with their Winter Edition.
Pour yourself a splash and take in the aroma - it brings a powerful wave of clementine but the bitterness of the cranberry brings about an interesting combination of the two - it’s certainly very evocative of Christmas - it’s like you’ve walked into the kitchen. Going into it from the nose I was unsure if this was going to appeal to me but a taste dispelled all concerns. Unlike many flavoured gins, this retains the juniper profile of a dry gin, but married to that beautiful bittersweetness of the cranberry. There are also vanilla notes which really smooth out the finish, which is warming but not spicy. This is fruity like a Christmas pudding.
I’ve included some dried cranberries and cinnamon sticks to garnish and although there are just tonics this month, I would urge you to experiment with mixers - it works with ginger ale beautifully. I also suggest you try it with Campari and Dry Vermouth to make a Christmas Negroni.
The Captain’s fearsome mother-in-law has also been busy in the Nautilus galley and has outdone herself with some chocolates that will be perfect for Boxing Day.
So here we are, at the end of the year. I wish you the Merriest of Christmases and hope that 2021 will be an annus mirabilis worth waiting for. And if you find yourself on your own at Christmas or when the clock strikes midnight at New Year, then know that you are never truly alone when you have shipmates and if you choose to hold a glass aloft and say ‘cheers’ on my Facebook page, then the gesture shall be returned. No buried treasure contains jewels as valuable as my courageous crew!
Love and barnacles
Your Loyal Captain
The captain’s lovely Negroni that made Boxing Day jolly good fun. And yes that is Tesco’s own brand Vermouth skulking shyly at the back. Don’t judge me.