Before the much loved London Dry Gin took center stage, the Dutch Genever was drunk across all of England and continental Europe. The 1616 is our nod to the traditional distilling process in the era of Shakespearean England, originally in commemoration of the 400 years since his passing.
Genever was made from a mix of grains, such as wheat, barley and rye which were fermented and distilled to create "malt wine", which was then redistilled with botanicals. The final composition of the Genever would vary depending on the preferences of the distiller. Creating an ‘old’ or ‘oude’ Genever, or a ‘young’ or ‘jonge’ Genever changes the flavour profile significantly. Old Genever has a higher proportion of malt wine, which gives heavier, malty flavours, while young Genever is more lightly flavoured using a lower proportion of malt wine.
Our 1616 starts off as pure malted barley, forgoing the option to incorporate wheat or rye into the starting spirit. This is in line with the process we follow to distil our single malt whisky. We followed a somewhat typical ‘old Genever’ process, creating a malt wine from our standard whisky fermentations by running it through our wash still twice. This is then transferred into our Holstein still where a special blend of botanicals- chosen due to their affinity with a whisky flavour profile- are added and redistilled to create our botanical spirit. This botanical spirit is then mixed with some remaining malt wine, and then filled into our STR casks, in which the flavour develops.
When we aren’t drinking our 1616 gin neat, we like to spice up our classic Negroni and Mule recipes!
COTSWOLDS 1616 NEGRONI
30ml Sweet vermouth
30ml Campari
COTSWOLDS MULE
50ml Cotswolds 1616
15ml Lime Juice
Top up Ginger Beer
2 x dash orange bitters
HOW TO CREATE: Place all ingredients (except the ginger beer) into an ice filled shaker, shake and strain into an iced hi-ball glass or a copper mug. Top up with ginger beer, stir & serve.
EMBELLISH: Lime wedge.
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