Lilliput Dorset Gin Review
Lilliput Dorset Gin is a relatively new Gin on the market as Andy Woodfield, Founder of Lilliput Dorset Gin started the project in January 2017. Purely started an experiment to see if he could create a product that captured the invigorating spirit of summer on the Dorset coast and the timeless beauty of life on the Jurassic coastline of Dorset. Distilled at their micro-distillery in Dorset, the botanicals include home-grown organic Rosemary, organic Basil from Egypt, organic Thyme from Spain and organic fresh water fermented Kalamata Olives from Greece.
According to the website, each of the botanicals are infused separately in a grain spirit to ensure each of their individual distinctive flavours and aromas is captured perfectly. The separate infusions are then blended together with our own unique blend of botanicals wild foraged Juniper from the mountains above Sarajevo in Bosnia. The gin is then distilled in copper stills and while the process is small scale at the moment, Andy hopes Lilliput Dorset Gin will grow with demand.
Winning the 2017 Gold Medal in the World Wine & Spirits Competition and 2017 Silver International Wine & Spirit Competition, it’ll be no surprise if the brand does continue to expand. We first discovered Lilliput Gin at the 2018 World Martini Competition and couldn’t wait to try it on its own and in a G&T.
The bottle has a beautiful wave design surrounding the bottle and comes in three sizes, 500ml, 200ml and 50ml. The design does embody the spirit of the Dorset Coast Line and it does give me the impression that this is a summer gin.
The gin itself is very savoury and the saltiness of the Kalamata Olives is a welcome change. I usually go for the more citrusy or sweet gins, so this slightly Mediterranean tasting gin is one I’m glad to add to my collection.
Lilliput Dorset Gin’s perfect serve is in a large copa de ballon glass with ice, a premium light tonic, garnished with a large sprig of fresh rosemary, a wedge of lime, a Kalamata Olive and finished off with the fresh spray of lime squeezed over the top of the glass. There was no olives or rosemary for us, but it was nice with the lime.
In terms of cocktails, The Bramble Berry Sour by Damaine Hinds is our favourite Lilliput cocktail. Damaine’s Lilliput Dorset Gin creation is the ‘Bramble Berry Sour’ a nod to Dick Bradsell the creator of my go to gin cocktail, the ‘Bramble’. You’ll need the following:
- 50ml Lilliput Dorset Gin
- Absinthe
- 4 Blackberries
- Fresh thyme
- 2 Basil leaves
- 12.5ml Cassis
- 20ml Lemon Juice
- Foam (add fresh Mint, Agave Nectar, Lemon Juice and an Egg White to a N20 siphon add gas and chill for at least 1 hour)
Rinse a rocks glass with absinthe and then add ice to the glass. In your shaker add the blackberries and muddle. Add the basil leaves and all other ingredients into your shaker, add ice and shake. Discard the ice and absinthe from your rocks glass. Finally, fine strain the cocktail into your chilled glass, then add the foam on top. Spray orange zest oils on top and garnish an edible flower. (We didn’t have a N20 Siphon, so we just used a milk frother. It didn’t look as good but it did the trick).
Lilliput Dorset Gin can be purchased online on the website and Amazon. It’s priced between £30-33 for the 500ml.
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