Range of bottled and canned craft beers in British and continental styles, expertly brewed in North Cornwall. While Gillatt, Hillier and Warfield are building a home for their brand, Alex Palmer-Samborne, founder and distiller at Skylark Distillery, literally set up shop in his house: a converted barn near Lostwithiel, where he lives with partner Christina and dog Bentley.

Bog Myrtle is also known as “Sweet Gale” and is a short shrub common in nitrogen poor bogs in North America and Europe. Bog Myrtle was a common component of beer flavoring in Europe prior to the availability of hops. A range of award-winning artisan wines, ciders and soft drinks from Polgoon's family-run vineyard and orchard in west Cornwall. Caorunn gin captivated me from the first time I heard about. Exotic botanicals are nothing new in modern gin. With Big names like Bombay getting into exotic ingredients designed to invoke a certain region, it shouldn’t be surprising that a gin coming out of Scotland would attempt to do something that invokes a certain vision of the pastoral and idyllic Scottish countryside. All of the botanicals are added to an organic grain spirit and left to macerate overnight. The still is switched on first thing in the morning and runs for six hours, producing a grand total of 250 bottles worth of liquid. Once off the still, the gin is cut to 40% with Cornish water and left to rest for a couple of days before bottling. Caspyn Gin to taste… The Perrys understand their place both as part of a close-knit distilling community in Cornwall, and in their own community in Launceston. In June, as world leaders were gathering in Carbis Bay for the G7 Summit, the Eagle House Hotel hosted the Gin 7 Summit. Designed as a celebration of Cornish gins, the evening included tastings and an auction in aid of the Cornwall Blood Bikes charity. The couple have also expressed their ambition to keep distilling at the hotel, so their distillery can “serve the town”.

Choosing The Right Gin For You

With tonic, the green tea and lemon verbena seem louder somehow – in fact, the latter takes on an exotic, lemongrass feel – like biting into the wrong bit of a Thai Green Curry. It’s incredibly refreshing with a real ebullience about it… In fact, there’s such a sensation of fizz that you half expect it to foam out of your mouth. Cucumber might be a good pair here, cooling the G&T down, but a handful of strawberries would work, bringing in a huge summer dessert vibe. While it may be a sought-after holiday destination, with an abundance of natural beauty spots and glossy resorts to cater to visitors, life for many Cornish residents is a far cry from the tourist experience. Caspyn Cornish dry gin is a classic dry gin. The ingredients include hibiscus, lemon & orange peel, lemon grass, lemon verbena, Japanese tea, gorse and orris to hold it all together.

These botanicals are in addition to a traditional gin bouquet, which oddly is what comes out when Caorunn gin is tasted. Quintessentially Cornish, multi-award-winning gin, handcrafted in small batches in north Cornwall. Lots of different varieties to try. Award-winning white and rose Bruts and still wines from the vineyard near Bodmin in the Camel Valley.Born from a love of flavour and passion for life, High Point are pushing their know-how in fermentation and distilling to bring you delicious non-alcoholic drinks. Availability: Rather uncommon in the US. Either your local large-selection liquor store, or online. Drink Finder’s range includes a couple hundred unique flavours to complement any taste, so be sure to

Rowan Berry is a common wild tree in the UK. Often as small trees with bright orange-reddish berries. Leadbetter worked on a 0.75-litre pilot still for a year to develop a recipe, building a library of more than 500 distillates. In July 2013, when he had a bottle he was happy with, he took it to a pub in St Ives and left it on the bar with his name and telephone number. Fortunately, it was a hit. Flavoured gin is an exciting evolution of the original gin formula, with an array of options as plentiful as your own imagination. Fruity flavours like raspberry, lemon, citrus and mango are perhaps the most popular, but more creative concoctions with notes of vanilla, chocolate, peppercorn or ginger are also available. Today the Eagle One Gin range – which includes the juicy Bright Summer Gin and the warming, spicy Bold Winter Gin – is distilled on a bespoke 230-litre still named Bob, after Robert, Count of Mortain, who built Launceston Castle.

Vermouth & Cordials

As is common knowledge now, the very British G&T has its origins in the tropical British colonies as gin was used to mask the bitter flavour of quinine which was the only effective anti-malarial around at the time. Quinine was dissolved in carbonated water to form tonic water and voila, the gin and tonic was born.

Range of loose leaf and pyramid bagged teas from the Tregothnan Estate blended with the finest leaves from Assam and Darjeeling. Also herbal teas. With tonic that peel/spice combination is accentuated; it’s a spiced G&T, with a layer of green so dark it’s as though you’re lost in a forest at night. It’s a bold interpretation of a summer gin, with cucumber dominating so much of the taste that the flower infusion barely gets to make a mark. It’s less singular than the lemon verbena-led Caspyn Gin, but despite that new found complexity we’d still opt for the original. Cornish Summer Cup to taste… Juicy, hoppy, unfiltered hazy Pales, IPAs and DIPAs, made in Penryn to ethical and sustainable standards. The Falmouth Distilling Company’s ‘home’, on a small industrial estate just outside Falmouth, is one the team will grow into – and one they plan to share with others, too. In the centre of the room sits a huge wooden dining table; Gillatt explains that they hope to host supper clubs and gin tastings around this table, when the time is right. In the gin I have tried to capture the Cornish spring in a bottle. Not only by using fresh and local ingredients but also by using those flavours that remind me of my childhood. That excitement of Spring, when the mornings are crisp and fresh and the winter is fading. New flavours are coming into season, new smells fill the garden.

Cocktails

The taste is almost savoury – salty notes definitely come through, evoking the Cornish seaside. I think this gin would be a superb complement for a dirty martini or even a red snapper. I tried it with lemon and mint to garnish, to keep the fresh taste. Caspyn recommend serving with orange, but I think any citrus will complement the floral and citrus notes in this gin. Midsummer Dry Gin