Swiss Gin Brand nginious! Chosen As Goodwood Partner
The famously lavish car show, Goodwood Revival, is well known to be an affair of quality and class, and they made no exception when choosing Swiss brand nginious! to be their gin partner.
ILoveGin was lucky enough to visit the nginious! team’s pop up bar at the Goodwood Revial Show this September and gin fans … we were seriously impressed.
Not only does this brand care about reflecting and incorporating their Swiss origins all the way down to the sourcing of their botanicals, but they have also created some incredibly innovative concoctions that do not sacrifice gin’s necessary juniper profile.
When starting out, nginious! creators Oliver Ullrich and Ralph Villiger had in mind to create an indelibly Swiss gin – something that they felt simply didn’t exist in Switzerland at the time. The first gin they created achieved this discernibly Swiss identity through the use of certain botanicals, such as fresh grapefruit and lots of herbs. This view was certainly agreed upon when nginious!’s Swiss Blended Gin won the Best Swiss Gin at the Swiss Spirits Awards this year!
We also learned that a great deal of care and innovation goes into the distillation process in order to create a perfect balance within the incredibly complex concoctions.
The Swiss Blended Gin (right) contains 18 botanicals. Instead of distilling all 18 flavours together, they are divided into 4 taste profile groups for maceration, distilled and then blended together at the end. These groups are:
1) Fruits + juniper
2) Citrus + cardamom
3) Liquorice (for structure)
4) The ‘Swiss batch’ of herbs and the rest of the roots
Although this method of distilling isn’t new or used solely by nginious!, it’s certainly not the most popular method and it’s quite labour intense. However the outcome of such an approach is that each type of botanical is allowed to release its aromas in its own time and therefore gets to shine through in a balanced way in the final product. We can concur this gin is incredibly smooth, complex and wonderfully fresh – a great G&T gin!
Serving suggestion: In a tumbler with dry tonic water, ice and strips of grapefruit zests
nginious! told us that with the botanicals used in the Swiss Blended Gin and its overall finish, it’s considered to be a perfect Springtime gin. Here we now have the nginious! Summer gin (pictured right)!
This edition isn’t quite as complex and is intended to be more of an easier drinking gin. (I can 100% confirm it definitely went down a treat!) This gin contains 8 botanicals and 3 maceration batches:
1) juniper and blueberries
2) peaches, fresh limes, jasmine flower blossoms, white pepper
3) rhubarb fruits and roots
Only two of the botanicals used are sourced from outside Switzerland making the nginious! gins a true celebration of “Swissness”!
Like the Swiss Blended, the Summer gin was delightfully smooth and evoked images of nursing a cool, refreshing G&T on a hot summer’s afternoon.
Serving suggestion: In a white wine glass with Mediterranean tonic, ice, slice of peach and basil
Moving onto a slightly more Autumnal concoction, here we have the Vermouth Cask Finished Gin. First thing to say about this tipple gin lovers is … WOW!! This was a definite favourite among us here at ILoveGin!
What makes this creation so innovative is that it’s entirely the first of its kind! Although there are some distilleries that have released barrel aged gins, no one had introduced a vermouth cask gin – until nginious!
It’s created by maturating the Swiss Blended Gin in a vermouth cask, incorporating bitter orange and oriental notes from the cask with the gin’s 18 botanicals. Although the taste profile is slightly altered, this is still very much a juniper forward gin and the Swiss herbal notes are certainly not lost.
It’s incredibly smooth and warming, and conjures up images of sitting in a leather chair in the Swiss mountains next to a roaring fire.
Serving suggestion: Pure on ice or as Gin Tonic with mediterranean tonic and orange zests
Winter is coming with this Smoked & Salted Gin! This is something we’ll be reaching for when the weather gets all cold and miserable.
Similarly to the Summer Gin, the Smoked & Salted contains 8 botanicals which are split into 3 macerating groups – however we’re talking about a completely different (and brilliant!) taste profile:
1) A pure juniper batch
2) Winter botanicals e.g. quinces, bitter oranges, fresh ginger, coriander seeds
3) Chestnut
Before they are macerated the chestnuts are cold-smoked for 40 hours, and after the final blending, slightly smoked stone salt from the Swiss Alps is added giving the gin its smoked and salted taste. This gin is fantastic in classic cocktails such as a Dirty Martini, an Espresso Martini and in nginious!’s own Smoked Fashioned creation. However, if you’d prefer to stick to a more classic serve:
Serving suggestion: In a tumbler with ice and either a dry tonic or a ginger beer, decorate with a sliced kumquat and a sprig of thyme
Perfect for any time of year … the ngroni! The ILoveGin team do enjoy a wee Negroni every so often so we
were delighted to see (and taste!) this. For those who aren’t a fan of Campari/more bitter Negroni variations, this will be right up your street.
To achieve the ngroni!, the Swiss Blended gin is blended with a Vermouth from Piedmont (which has been aged in a Barolo barrel) and with a Swiss Bitter (apparently from an ancient Torino recipe).
It’s slightly sweeter than your average Negroni, it’s incredibly smooth and I think we definitely need to get a bottle for the office!!
Serving suggestion: In a tumbler on ice with an orange zest
Last but not least, we have the Distiller’s Cut! This is the only London Dry nginious! have created and it is wonderfully juniper forward with a good citrusy nose. Some of the botanicals include:
- juniper
- lemon peel
- grapefruit
- coriander
- lavender
- thyme
- pepper
- orris root
- liquorice
The Distiller’s Cut is quite personal to the nginious! team as it was created for the opening of their new home and base: the Liquid Spirit Distillery in Basel. Only 3,000 150cl (magnum) bottles have been produced.
If you’re looking for a proper, juniper forward London Dry, we cannot recommend this enough!
Serving suggestion: In a white wine glass with lemon zest, sprigs of thyme and a dry Tonic Water
FUN FACT: Iris Menne-Ullrich, also known as ‘The Producer’s Wife’, told us that the reason why the bottles are shaped as they are, is because she once found an old Victorian hip flask whilst perusing Notting Hill Market! The flask later became inspiration for nginious! and considering how cool they look, I’m really glad the hip flask was found!
Want to give Pink Pepper or Aber Falls Gin a try? It’s in this month’s box!
Join the ILoveGin club where we send you a new box like the ones below for just £14/m inc free delivery, you’ll get 2 new gins and 2 tonic/mixers each month to try, enough to make 4 G&Ts plus discounts on full size bottles.
Limited Time Offer: Get your first box for just £9 including delivery, that’s £9 for 4 x G&Ts, use code: GINBLOG5OFF at checkout at ILoveGin.com/join
