The first batch of gin from the Harrogate Tipple Distillery was released at RHS Harlow Carr in October 2016. Originally produced in an old Smokehouse in the centre of Harrogate, Premium Harrogate Gin is now distilled at Harrogate Tipple’s new distillery on the Ripley Castle Estate. When I graduated with a PhD in Chemistry, I knew I wanted to put my skills to good use, but cajoling exotic and often toxic chemicals in the lab eventually lost it’s appeal. With my growing desire to work more closely with nature a new path was forged. They describe the spirit as being a blend of traditional botanicals “with more delicate infusions of Elderflower, Dandelion and Pink Grapefruit.

In 2015, equipped with a tiny still and boundless curiosity, I set about gathering ingredients and developing the process and recipe for my first gin – Slake’s Sussex Dry Gin was born. At Sloemotion Distillery we pride ourselves on distilling craft spirits in small batches in our eco-friendly iStill. Along with our unique, foraged ingredients, this allows us to create drinks with a depth of flavour that cannot be achieved with large-scale distillation. Litre of Gin (use a plain or flavoured variety depending on your personal preference). Vodka can also be used as a substitution.

This gin makes a lovely gift for Christmas (if you can bear to give it away). Strain the gin and remove the fruits when it’s ready, then pour the gin into bottles for further storage or gifting. The act of foraging still feels like a slightly political act from the folk at Sloemotion, a craft distiller who insist on keeping ingredients as natural and local as possible in an increasingly saturated (and not always quality-led) 'craft' spirits market. York Gin Cocoa is distilled using cocoa beans from York Cocoa Works to give it a unique and intensely satisfying flavour along with the unmistakable aroma of chocolate. A wonderfully fitting tribute to York’s history of chocolate production.

After distillation, our gins, vodkas and liqueurs are blended with purified water to achieve the perfect flavour and ABV. Our distillation and steeping processes (for our liqueurs) are a true labour of love, and it is this care and attention to detail that sets our products apart; you can taste it in every sip. The Ingredients – Foraged Botanicals for Unique Flavours

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The Spirit of Masham distillery is owned by Cork and Cases and located on a small business park just outside Masham. It is open to the public so visitors can learn about the gin-making process and see the copper alembic still, which is used to create their “Spirit of Masham Gin”. Whittaker’s Gin is produced by the family-run, Harrogate Distillery, on Harewell House Farm in Nidderdale. The artisian, small-batch gin uses naturally-sourced water from their own land, along with local Hawthorne Berries and Bog Myrtle. You can drink your Hedgerow Gin (young), this Christmas, but it’ll be even better if matured and left until next year. Whichever option you choose is up to you!

Forage your fruits after the first frost so that they have “bletted”, (which means the juice inside the fruit has been frozen, usually by natural frosts). Alternatively, forage your fruit before the frosts and cheat your way to gin happiness. Make sure to wash your fruit well in cold water, drain and dry, then freeze in containers or plastic bags - you can leave it all in the freezer for a good few weeks, then defrost your fruit when you’re ready to use them. The Pink Particular Gin is wonderfully aromatic with flavours of cardamon, lemon citrus and pink peppercorns. It should be served neat or with just a dash of tonic. This coincided with the birth of gin as a product and the import of cheap sugar as a result of the slave trade; giving country people the access to the three key ingredients of Sloe Gin. It also explains why the making of this deliciously warming liqueur in the home is seen as a rite of passage into country life.' The art of foraging Harvest is here too, and while those who grow their own are pulling parsnips, and farmers bringing in crops sown long ago, nature too effortlessly feeds the hungry, both sparrow and son of man, without any expectation of money changing hands. Autumn is truly a gift. How to make Hedgerow Gin with Sloes and DamsonsOur flagship product is our award-winning Hedgerow Gin, which is made with a blend of locally sourced botanicals. We then take that Gin and add Sloe berries to steep for a period of months to make our fantastic Sloe Gin. I was surrounded by wild coast, countryside and forest, rich with the herbs and botanicals that I knew would make a gin like no other. It has become my passion to showcase adventurous foraged flavours that reconnect you with nature one sip at a time. The York Gin Company was founded by four friends who share a love of gin and a passion for their historic city. York Gin was the very first to be distilled in the city of York and despite being on sale for just 6 months, it is one of the most popular Yorkshire gins on the Summer Tasting Menu at London Gin Club, Soho. The Little Red Berry Company are a multi-award winning company based near Ripon. They have been producing alcoholic liqueurs and flavoured gins since 2011 when they took their first Yorkshire gins to Otley Show for locals to sample.

Their more recent offering, Hedgerow Gin, is crafted in small batches and brings together the flavours of crab apple, nettle leaf, sloes, elderflowers, and rosehip. Sloemotion recommends serving this with a dash of tonic and a sprig of thyme. Seal your jar and give it a good shake… do this daily for a few weeks, so make sure to put it somewhere you’ll remember to do this. Raisthorpe Manor were famous for their liqueurs way before they started to produce and sell their Raisthorpe Distilled Dry Gin. They made homemade Raspberry Gin Liqueur from their country kitchen and served it to guests at Raisthorpe Flyers.We often talk about terroir when it comes to wines – that undefinable sense of place that you can taste with a sip, but can the concept apply to a home-grown spirit such as gin? 'Grapes have been cultivated and domesticated over thousands of years to the point where varieties are so consistent that factors in the terroir are important' explains Mike. 'In contrast to wine, gin and sloe gin are relatively modern products and have not had the same cultural processing! The grains used to make the spirit and the botanicals are so commoditised that for a small business like us it's hard to take control. So, we can only really talk about the terroir of our hedgerow botanicals used in our gin and the fruit we use to make our liqueurs.'