About Cotswolds Old Tom Gin
Cotswolds Distillery, nestled in the heart of the beautiful Cotswolds countryside, has been crafting its outstanding spirits since 2014. The company, which is the first full-scale distillery in the Cotswolds, produces single malt whiskies, gins and delicious liqueurs, always putting quality and flavor above all else. Their commitment to quality and the search for something deliciously different has brought the distillery several awards in less than a decade of its operations.
Cotswolds distills its gins in a copper pot, using a range of carefully selected botanicals. The making of gin starts with a neutral base alcohol, which in Cotswolds’ case is produced from wheat. The completely flavorless spirit is supplied to the distillery at 96% ABV. The spirit is mixed with some water in the copper pot still, and the base botanicals, including juniper berries, are added. These botanical are left to macerate for 15 hours before the remaining botanicals are put in the still in the morning. Cotswolds uses about 10x the average weight of botanicals for its premium gin and it’s the quantity of essential oils and botanical extract from them that gives their gin its characteristic richness. Cotswolds gins are distilled in small batches, and only the finest part of every run is selected. The hearts, which are at 83% ABV, are then rested for 5 days to allow the various flavors to come together and settle in. The strength of the spirit is then reduced to 46% by adding filtered water. This process is known as single-shot distillation, and it means that no neutral grain spirit is added to the distilled batch to stretch out the gin. While this may be a less efficient way of making gin, it allows the distillery to deliver best possible flavor and quality. The gin is bottled without chill filtering, preserving the essential oils that create the rich flavor and mouthfeel of Cotswolds gins.
Cotswolds Old Tom Gin is an old-style classic with sweet, woody notes from licorice root, light spice from ginger, zesty orange citrus and a hint of cardamom. The finest botanicals – juniper, coriander, angelica, fresh orange peel, licorice root, ground ginger, caraway and cardamom – are added to a 60% ABV spirit and distilled. Before bottling the gin at 42% ABV, a touch of sugar syrup is added in keeping with traditional Old Tom recipes.
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About Cotswolds
The Cotswolds Distillery is the brainchild of Dan Szor, a native New Yorker whose 30-year career in finance took him and his family to London, where they’d often escape the stress of city living by spending weekends in England’s Cotswolds. Classified as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty by the British government, the Cotswolds have been designated for conservation due to their significant landscape value, and it’s easy to see why Dan was so quickly enamored with the rolling hills and honey-colored cottages of the region.
While living in England, Dan’s deep-rooted passion for whisky led him on annual pilgrimages to Islay, where he fervently explored the various single malt Scotch distilleries. One day, back in the Cotswolds, Dan was staring out of a window at a neighboring barley field when he suddenly had an "aha" moment — barley was growing all over the Cotswolds, yet no one was distilling it. Dan decided to be the first, and within just a few years he had snapped up an old barn conversion, commissioned several custom stills and begun distilling the region’s very first artisanal spirits at the Cotswolds Distillery.
About Gin
According to Winston Churchill, "The gin and tonic has saved more Englishmen's lives and minds than all the doctors in the Empire," referring to the British officers using it to treat malaria in India.
Initially made for medicinal purposes, gin gets most of its flavor from the juniper berries added after the distillation process. It sure has come a long way from the Middle Ages, with the introduction of new botanicals, fruits, and spices, bringing it closer to people of all flavor varieties.
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