Food

New gin will have you seeing stars

A drink ‘for those quiet nights when you want to sit and contemplate life’

Lesley Gracie, master distiller at Hendrick’s gin.

John Wilson's face
John Wilson
Wed Mar 31 2021 - 06:00

“Inhale the warm night air, let it drain to the warm earth below you, and soar back up to the stars. The night sky awaits you.”

The online launch of Hendrick’s latest small batch gin featured songs, poems and sketches with references to Bowie’s Life on Mars and Star Trek as well as the first cucumber to land on the moon. We were supplied with a telescope, a moon lamp and astrological map to help create the mood. It all belied the fact that the original Hendrick’s is a seriously good craft gin, arguably the first in the booming category that is now so popular.

The new gin in question was Hendrick’s small batch Lunar Gin, its second limited release gin produced under the supervision of master distiller Lesley Gracie at the Hendrick’s Gin Palace in Ayrshire, Scotland. It is available exclusively in SuperValu €46 and will replace Hendrick’s Midsummer Solstice, released in the summer of 2019.

Gracie told us she lives in a house with fields and flowerbeds behind. “You can see stars in full view. As light dropped down, the smell of the flowers seemed to be increasing, the difference between light and day was fascinating. There was a connection between the moon and the earth. This gin was inspired by the flowers interacting with the dark. It is different, warm, spicy, intense, deep but smooth. A lovely liquid, you could get up to some real mischief with this.”

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Hendricks global brand ambassador Ally Martin said: “It has the original Hendrick’s profile but with more warmth and spice. It is a gin for those quiet nights when you want to sit and contemplate life”.

The suggested cocktails are the classic G&T or a Moonlight Buck (see below) but Ms Gracie prefers it “simply with sparkling water and a tiny, tiny amount of cucumber to fetch up these aromas, the warm spice, allowing the deep floral notes to shine through.”

MOONLIGHT BUCK

Ingredients

50ml Hendrick’s Lunar Gin

15ml lemon juice

Top with ginger ale

3 slices of cucumber

Twist of lemon

Method

Mix and serve.