In April 2014 Rupert Holloway left his day job as a surveyor to open Dorset’s First Gin Distillery. One year later in April 2015 the first bottle of the Dorset Dry was sold and Rupert’s Best friend Fred came on board and the distillery as grown from there.
The distillery contains two 60-litre alembic pot stills named Pumpkin and Aunt Fanny which distill daily. There are four Conkers’ Gin available, The London Dry, The Port Barrel Gin, The RNLI Navy Strength and the UK’s first Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur that didn’t use a single flavouring additive or thickener.
In regards to the Port Barrel Gin, this gin is Limited Edition and has only 800 bottles available in each run. So I’m pretty lucky to have received a bottle to review when I met Rupert and the team at The World’s Best Martini Competition on Tuesday 15th January 2019.
The gin is made using Conker’s signature Dorset Dry gin which contains 10 botanicals including Juniper, Coriander, Angelia Root, Orris Root, Cassia Bark, Bitter Orange Peel, Marsh Samphire, Gorse Flowers and Elderberries. This gin is then stored in used port barrels from Portugal. The result a delightful pink gin which combines the dry pine flavoured juniper, herbaceous notes with flavours of vanilla oak, warm spice and sweet red fruits.
Port reminds me of sharing a glass of port with my parents back home in Australia, so when I opened the bottle I was instantly taken back to those moments. The combination with the juniper and citrus centred gin was both calming and exciting at the same time. At first sip of the Port Barrel Gin, the flavours from the port barrels jumped out at me but weren’t overpowering. I found the gin to be sweet and spicy at the same time, though my friend found it more spicy than sweet. Whichever of us was right, the gin itself is unique. While I’ve tried other wine flavoured gins… this was impressive and a definite winner.
The perfect serve is the ‘PORTO G&T’. 50ml Port Barrel Gin, 200ml classic Indian tonic water and garnished with Grapefruit or orange peel. We were also told in the method to ‘Whack some Bon Iver on as it was time to set aside the rest of your day. It’s time to indulge’. We tried the listening to Bon Iver and much preferred the Jazzy styles of The Cooltrane Quartet, but Conkers Gin definitely had the perfect serve down to an art form.