Let the fun be-gin!

Ireland’s gin industry has expanded exponentially in recent years, with more than 30% growth in sales in some years and upwards of 50 brands now produced here

Brand Central

24 August 2020

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Gin is continuing to make a splash in both the domestic and export markets. According to the Alcohol Beverage Federation of Ireland (ABFI), Irish consumers purchased over half a million bottles of pink gin during 2018, making pink gin the breakthrough success story of the year in the domestic market

Meanwhile, the value of exports of Irish gin from the Republic of Ireland was up 213% to €4.2 million in first nine months of 2018.

Bucking the botanicals trend

Blood Monkey is a sophisticated spirit with a complex character

Dublin-based Outcast Brands launched its inaugural product, Blood Monkey Irish Craft Gin in July.

The name ‘Blood Monkey’ comes from a derogatory naval term for a seafarer or merchant who used to drill into the officers’ barrel of grog to steal the liquor inside – hence the brand’s icon being a brass drill bit.

This new Irish gin looks set to go against the grain of recent Irish gin launches, by bringing a new taste profile to the growing gin category, with a versatile liquid that drinks like a white whiskey, made in a style that hasn’t been distilled in Ireland or the UK for almost 350 years. Blood Monkey has been designed as a sipping gin – one of only a few gins that can be drunk neat as well as in a traditional gin and tonic or cocktails.

Blood Monkey is wholly Irish-owned and distilled by West Cork Distiller’s master distiller, Deirdre Bohane in Skibbereen, who describes it as a “sophisticated spirit with a complex character. It hits you with a smooth, warm citrus spice followed with a slight hint of floral entwined with smoky, caramel flavours of whiskey.”

The brainchild of Dublin-based entrepreneur Jason Kidd, Blood Monkey is an attempt to stand out from a plethora of botanical gins which have hit the market. It is being launched with a bold campaign which the brand says subverts current gin advertising, across print, social and digital platforms.

Blood Monkey is currently stocked across independent off-licences in Dublin and is wholesaled by Celtic Whiskey.

Fruit infusion

Bombay Bramble offers both gin and berried fruit flavours in one spirit

Bombay Sapphire, the world’s leading premium gin brand continues to challenge conventional techniques and invites consumers to discover Bombay Bramble, which features 100% natural blackberries and raspberries; luscious little fruits with a powerful personality.

Bombay Bramble pushes the boundaries of flavour and colour by marrying the brand’s vapour-distilled gin with a real fruit infusion of blackberries and raspberries that gives a distinct crimson colour and natural flavour, perfectly complimenting the intense juniper notes in Bombay Sapphire’s unmistakable 1761 signature recipe.

The sophisticated new gin is the result of a highly crafted, intensive process which the brand claims challenges the common practice of some other flavoured gins on the market which often use concentrates, additional sugars and additives to flavour the liquid.

Bombay Bramble is inspired by the modern classic and eponymously named gin cocktail, ‘The Bramble’, created in 1984. Bombay Bramble simplifies the mixing of this iconic serve by offering both gin and berried fruit flavours in one spirit; an innovative way for bartenders and consumers to evolve this much-loved cocktail with ease.

The Bacardi Martini owned brand Bombay Sapphire has also entered the ready-to-drink category with a canned G&T.

Available nationwide, see more at www.bombaysapphire.com or @BombaySapphire on Instagram or Facebook.

Gold champion

The Ha’Penny range of handcrafted, small batch distilled spirits is original, distinctive and full of personality, just like the city that inspired it. The range was created by the spirits team at Pearse Lyons Distillery, who developed the gins using only the finest natural botanicals, inspired by the Victorian walled garden of the Phoenix Park Dublin.

Ha’Penny Dublin Dry Gin was awarded Gold in the Gin Masters 2020. These awards run by the Spirits Business have become the last word in awarding excellence in the drinks industry.

Meanwhile, Ha’Penny Rhubarb has just won Gold in the world’s largest international spirit awards competition, the International Wine & Spirit Competition (IWSC).

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