What’s a damson plum? Effectively, in case you’ve ever had sloe gin, you’re heading in the right direction. Damsons and sloes are cousins, each discovered within the hedgerows of Britain, and each have been used to make booze for hundreds of years, as a result of the fruits are too tart and astringent to eat on their very own.
On this spin on a sloe gin, Tamworth Distilling makes use of damson plums together with juniper, bitter orange, anise hyssop, and hops to create a singular but acquainted class designed for cocktailing — and making cocktails of a selected shade of ruddy orange.
On the nostril, the gin provides a curious mixture of fruit and herbaceous notes; these used to uber-sweet sloe gins will discover this maybe a bit heavier on the “gin” facet of the equation than anticipated. Earthy with a juniper chaser, it’s the hops that are likely to dominate, pairing fitfully with the tart damson plum ingredient — which comes throughout with notes of underripe raspberry combined with plum.
Issues come along with extra stability on the palate, which options candy berry notes melding with juniper and an natural character that comes throughout like black tea leaves. There’s a Tawny Port high quality right here that offers the gin a barely oxidized feeling — and that added ingredient helps this drink higher solo than you get with a typical sloe gin. These hops inform a barely rustic however not unpleasant end, once more evoking a youthful, sharper, and extra aggressive Tawny.
Tamworth’s Damson Plum expression isn’t dramatically higher than any of the high-end sloe gins on the market, similar to these from Sipsmith or Plymouth, but it surely the usage of damson plum does at the least make for an attention-grabbing level of differentiation. When you like your sloe gin on the extra savory facet — and don’t thoughts paying a premium — it’s value a glance as a possible new member of your again bar.
60 proof.
B+ / $55 / tamworthdistilling.com
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