BERGAMOT
BERGAMOT
SIGNATURE FRESH BOTANICALS
When the Victorian ginsmiths were perfecting their formulations for London Dry Gin, London was the centre of global trading with spices and botanicals from around the world ending up on the docks. In the age of steam and sail the only botanicals available were dried - so these are what the traditional gin recipes use. Today that is no longer the case - and we are pioneering the use of fresh botanicals in gin distilling.
Our Himalayan Juniper is not dried but is actually distilled within 24 hours of harvest as a freshly picked berry. Similarly our organic Bergamot oranges are picked at peak ripeness, then peeled and pressed to extract a raw zingy essential oil. Both elements are added after the main distillation process to preserve their vibrant flavours.
BERGAMOT
Citrus Bergamia
Italy
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Bergamot is a variety of sour orange with a strongly aromatic peel. It provides the distinctive sweet sour citrus notes in Boxer Gin (and also in Earl Grey tea). Our bergamot is sourced from Calabria in southern Italy.
HIMALAYAN JUNIPER
Juniperus Indica
Nepal
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Himalayan or Black Juniper grows at high altitude between 2600m & 5200m above sea level. It is intensely piney with distinctive citrus notes. Our berries are foraged from the southern slopes of Mount Everest itself in Solukhumbu District in North Eastern Nepal.
SUPPORTING DRIED BOTANICALS
Our Dried Botanicals can be split into three groups:
botanicals which support to the fresh juniper and citrus top notes,
botanicals which provide the spicy base notes and botanicals which provide a sophisticated dry finish
EUROPEAN
JUNIPER
Juniper Communis
Bulgaria
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The berry of the juniper tree is actually a strange miniature pine-cone. They have a floral, pine flavour with cedar undertones.
SWEET LEMON
Citrus Limetta
Spain
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The dried peels are slowly macerated in our gin to add a fresh citrus hit both on the nose and aftertaste.
SWEET SEVILLE ORANGE
Citrus Xaurantium
Spain
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The peel of an unusual orange grown in Andalucia. It has the flavour of the classic orange marmalade but none of its usual bitterness.
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ANGELICA
ROOT
Angelica Archangelica
Spain
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Angelica root earthy, vegetal and mildly bitter. It is widely used as a herbal remedy to aid digestion. Angelica also helps lock the other flavours into Boxer Gin.
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THE SWEET SCIENCE
COPPER DISTILLED
The first step in the preparation of Boxer Gin is the careful distillation of a soft, pure wheat spirit. We use the highest quality grain from the east of England. This grain is fermented and distilled using a combination of a modern tower still and our veteran copper pot still. The result is a gentle, soft spirit with a natural grain sweetness and subtle flavours of grass and hay.
THE BOXER DIFFERENCE
In order to deliver an added vibrancy to Boxer Gin we have created a new process in the production of our gin. Uniquely, we separately steam distill fresh, wild juniper berries to extract their essential oil. This gentle 20 hour process is carried out at source in the Himalaya, capturing each and every delicate nuance of flavour with absolute clarity. Similarly, we also extract a zingy raw citrus essential oil by cold pressing fresh bergamot peel.
LONDON DRY DISTILLATION
The next step is to distill a classic London Dry Gin. We steep our carefully sourced botanicals in our copper distilled wheat spirit, to allow the flavours to be released into it. After an eight hour maceration we transfer the mix into “Angela” – our 108 year old copper pot still – which is gently heated until the spirit is turned into vapour and then condensed back into a liquid. This process fixes the botanical flavours into Boxer gin.
THE FINAL CUT
The final stages in the creation of Boxer Gin is the careful marriage of our wild Himalayan juniper distillate and our organic bergamot essential oil with our London Dry gin; and the gradual addition of the purest water to open up the flavours at a classic bottling strength of 40% and an export strength of 45% alcohol by volume.
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