The Lemon Fool

Nimrod103 wrote:

swill453 wrote:

Mike4 wrote:i heard a rumour that the Bombay gin factory near here had switched production from Bombay Gin to 100% hand sanitiser earlier this year.

Might just be one of those urban myths that sounds credible but is actually a loadarubbish....

Very likely true. Our local gin distillery certainly did just that https://www.linlithgowgazette.co.uk/bus ... us-2545920

Scott.

I never got over my tour of the Plymouth Gin 'factory' in the Devon city some years ago. I asked where the distillery was. They said the alcohol was brought in by tanker from a plant in Basildon. "We just add the flavouring here".

Which is why I (faintly scathingly) called it a factory. I doubt the Bombay Gin production facility here does much distilling either!

The small whisky distillery I visited, that had diversified into gin, did buy in bulk alcohol in for it. However they distilled it in one of their stills so the vapour went through the "kettle" filled with juniper berries and other botanicals. They didn't just add flavouring.

Scott.

Nimrod103 wrote:

swill453 wrote:

Mike4 wrote:i heard a rumour that the Bombay gin factory near here had switched production from Bombay Gin to 100% hand sanitiser earlier this year.

Might just be one of those urban myths that sounds credible but is actually a loadarubbish....

Very likely true. Our local gin distillery certainly did just that https://www.linlithgowgazette.co.uk/bus ... us-2545920

Scott.

I never got over my tour of the Plymouth Gin 'factory' in the Devon city some years ago. I asked where the distillery was. They said the alcohol was brought in by tanker from a plant in Basildon. "We just add the flavouring here".

If they are buying in the base spirit they are not distillers. They are either Rectifiers or Compounders, both of which still (still !) require the appropriate license from HRMC. Maybe that's why they call it a factory.

Step one of gin production is to make a pure alcohol. For example, you could distil from anything that had been fermented (e.g. grape, grain, potato) but unlike say, whiskey or rum, you'd only want the ethanol to come through, cutting any fractions that contained impurities (excluding a little water).

Once you'd got that, you might distil it again to improve purity of the alcohol, before then either diluting with water and soaking your selected botanicals in the liquid, or putting them in the vapour path, and re-distilling for a possible third time, this time not fractionating for purity, but trying to capture the desired flavours and smells that the botanicals provide.

Some gin manufacturers will process one botanical at a time, then blend the resultant "botanical alcohols" to achieve their preferred flavour (also useful for recipe development) whilst others will have an established recipe, but which is monitored since the ingredients are variable based on growing conditions etc.

You could make a gin by soaking your botanicals in vodka (pick your proof), but it won't be stable over time, even if you filter it. The flavour will continue to develop, not always in a good way. Even with properly made gin, the better manufacturers will often try to keep it in final storage for 5 or 6 weeks in order for the final chemical reactions between the botanicals to settle down before selling to the customer, as some people will notice the change in flavour between say, a one week and a six week old bottle of the same product.

Whether the addition of the botanicals is carried out at the same plant as the alcohol production is largely irrelevant, as is the actual source of the alcohol fermentation, except for marketing purposes!

VRD

For the third year running, my wonderful, empathetic and sensible (etc) daughters sent me a beer advent calendar.
Highlights so far have been S43 Brewery's The Mark - a light but rounded hoppy bitter, and Wild Beer Co's Millionaire - a medium strength sweetish stout (very suitable for winter).

stewamax wrote:For the third year running, my wonderful, empathetic and sensible (etc) daughters sent me a beer advent calendar.
Highlights so far have been S43 Brewery's The Mark - a light but rounded hoppy bitter, and Wild Beer Co's Millionaire - a medium strength sweetish stout (very suitable for winter).

The mind boggles. How big is this thing?

Picture a crate with dividers containing 24 x 330ml or similar bottles.
Put in a box with the usual 1->24 windows embossed and perforated.
Flip it on its side.

Bingo - hic!

Not right now but last night and probably tonight.

We ordered a couple of Pups before Xmas from the Otter Brewery of their 3.6% Otter Bitter.

The 3.6 used to be a regular on bars around E. Devon but not so the last couple of years for some reason.

I like Otter beer - I drink it at my regular music festival in Devon (canceled this year, like so much else)
Doesn't make its way to Berkshire very often

AleisterCrowley wrote:I like Otter beer - I drink it at my regular music festival in Devon (canceled this year, like so much else)
Doesn't make its way to Berkshire very often

Was that the Sidmouth FF? Some breweries have a 30 miles only delivery policy and Otter might be one of them.

"Buy local think global" isn't a bad policy.

Escot Park (Beautiful Days) so <10 miles from the brewery!
I did see Otter bitter in a (sadly now shut) pub in my village many years ago, so it has got as far as Reading

AleisterCrowley wrote:Escot Park (Beautiful Days) so <10 miles from the brewery!
I did see Otter bitter in a (sadly now shut) pub in my village many years ago, so it has got as far as Reading

Can you remember if it traveled well i.e. tasted alright?

Not really - it was OK I think, but not as good as when I'm at the festival (although that could be the fresh air and exercise heightening the enjoyment)

Stan wrote:

AleisterCrowley wrote:Escot Park (Beautiful Days) so <10 miles from the brewery!
I did see Otter bitter in a (sadly now shut) pub in my village many years ago, so it has got as far as Reading

Can you remember if it traveled well i.e. tasted alright?

I think the cellaring has more impact on a good bitter than how far it travelled. The session bitter in my local pub tastes just about ok, but no better. The same beer - Butcombe Original - tastes utterly divine in The Ship Inn at Upavon, only 15 miles away. Hard to believe you're drinking the same brew.

stewamax wrote:Picture a crate with dividers containing 24 x 330ml or similar bottles.
Put in a box with the usual 1->24 windows embossed and perforated.
Flip it on its side.

Bingo - hic!

Up here my local wholesaler (now turned delivery retailer) does mixed assorted boxes of either lager, porter or pale ale, in effect lucky dip, about 12 in each, just imagine all three as an advent calendar without the pictures and you can do the 24 days of advent and the twelve days after. I have been a tad slow (well I also had a mini keg of Newbarns table beer) so tonight's was 440ml Cafe Racer Coffee & Vanilla Porter 6.5% ABV.


https://www.newbarnsbrewery.com/shop

Wife bought me a cracking box of beers for my birthday from Great Oakley Brewery (greatoakleybrewery.co.uk). All RAIB's.

Selection I have has the following:

Delapre Dark 4.6% - dark mahogany, 5 malts, burnt spicyness
Egret 3.8% - pale, gold, 5 American & NZ hops
Gobble 4.5% - straw, floral, crisp
Tailshaker 5% - ESB, complex
Tiffield Thunderbolt 4.2% - pale, NZ hops, "thirst quencher"
Welland Valley Mild 3.6% - dark, slight roast, lots of aroma and taste - winner of many awards

All been cracking so far - I will buy again.

I vaguely remember having one or two of their beers in a pub/festival but not nearly as often as I'd expect from a brewery that is 15 miles away.

Had Otter in Herefordshire once years ago. Not to my taste really, not sure it was the beer or the cellaring.

Last night I drank this:
https://store.theheadofsteam.co.uk/stor ... ged-dubbel
Very expensive at £8 but tasted absolutely mindblowing. 10.2%. Spent a couple of hours sipping it. It's base is a strong Belgian dubbel but overlayed with Rioja barrel flavours. If I'd known the price before buying it, I probably wouldn't have bought it, being a tightwad. Really glad I did buy it, I'd spend the money again.

bluedonkey wrote:Had Otter in Herefordshire once years ago. Not to my taste really, not sure it was the beer or the cellaring.

Last night I drank this:
https://store.theheadofsteam.co.uk/stor ... ged-dubbel
Very expensive at £8 but tasted absolutely mindblowing. 10.2%. Spent a couple of hours sipping it. It's base is a strong Belgian dubbel but overlayed with Rioja barrel flavours. If I'd known the price before buying it, I probably wouldn't have bought it, being a tightwad. Really glad I did buy it, I'd spend the money again.

Surprised they are selling that in a 500ml bottle and the bottle looks a bit carp.

Nevertheless, when I win the lottery I shall definitely be buying some

I'm drinking cider

Kernel Brewery Baltic Porter 7.1%.