The whole week you have been looking forward to weekend drinks with friends and when Saturday comes round, you reach for the booze cabinet and pull out your favouite tipple. Only to notice that its a bit cloudy...odd. You have a minor melt-down because its your fave and and so you ask the question: Is it off? No.
Feel the bottle, is it cold? Most likely. If its just come from the fridge, then most definitely. But in all honesty, the cold weather, fridge or even the cupboard makes you realise just how much flavour is actually in your gin. What?!
We do not chill-filter our gins. It's a filtering process that chills the spirit down to around 0 degrees Celsius and filters the liquid in order to remove any offending particles. However, most of these 'offending' particles are the essential oils from the botanicals used during distillation of this delicious spirit. Hence the cloudy gin when its cold or stored in the fridge. It is standard industry practice, nothing wrong there, but it is cosmetic and we prefer a nude lip in this distillery.
We really enjoy the essential oils in our gins (and they require a lot of work) so why would some filter them out? Well the consumer has been trained to only drink clear liquids without knowing why they are so clear considering the complex process of manufacturing them?! A question within a statement perhaps. Rest assured there is, in almost all cases, nothing wrong with your gin, it's just real.
Copious amounts of botanicals are infused in our gins, if they didn't turn a bit cloudy at least during winter, we would be seriously worried. Essential oils are not always soluble in water, so when it comes to diluting down to the required ABV, the oils and water might not mix well.
So here's to drinking authentic spirits, cheers!
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