Every month we’ll be choosing a different gin to accompany our Ginfusion botanicals, tasting it alone and then with our various blends. We encourage you to experiment with gin cocktails, an want to give you some ideas on gin matching as well as perhaps introducing some new gins you might like to try.
Our first gin of the month is the curiously named ‘The Spirit of Toad’ from The Oxford Artisan Distillery. What we really love about these guys is that they make their own spirit from grain, something of a rarity these days as most distillers buy in their alcohol and then turn it into gin. What’s more, some of the botanicals used in making The Spirit of Toad are hand-picked from the Oxford Botanic Garden – and those that they can’t find locally are sourced to be organic, sustainable or wild picked wherever possible – making this a real labour of love from start to finish. And as you’ll see in the picture they have beautiful purpose-built copper stills, called Nautilus and Nemo, which were made by the same people who renovated The Flying Scotsman. It seems that they don’t do things by halves at this place!
So, onto the gin. It comes in a very solid looking and feeling bottle that speaks of quality, with a chunky glass stopper (and one that’s actually easy to remove and pops back into place with a satisfyingly reassuring click, unlike many of the other glass stoppers we’ve had to wrestle with recently). The gin has a powerful aroma, perhaps from the grain spirit, and is certainly robust on the palate with strong juniper and a zesty undertone that helps soften it slightly. At 46% is certainly packs a punch, but that adds to its character as a gin that won’t be overwhelmed by almost any choice of tonic or garnish. We certainly enjoyed it and think it complements our Tropical and Citrus blends particularly well.
You can order The Spirit of Toad at https://www.spiritoftoad.com (They make vodka too, but we haven’t tried it yet!)