Mermaid Zest Gin, Isle of Wight Distillery 40%

Description

Mermaid Zest Gin is maritime inspired gin from the Isle of Wight Distillery. It is a zesty, fresh gin with a hint of sea air.

The Isle of Wight Distillery was founded by a winemaker and a brewer who had long thought about making a gin. Conrad Gauntlet started growing vines and making wine at Rosemary vineyard in 1985 and, with over 30 acres of vineyards, is one of the largest wine producers on the Isle of Wight. Xavier Baker has been brewing beer since 1995 and first cut his teeth at the Ventnor Brewery and, after a couple of detours in whisky (Ireland and Scotland), he eventually arrived at Goddard’s Brewery near Ryde. The pair soon met and a plan to produce Gin was conceived. 

As mentioned above, Mermaid Zest Gin is a limited edition gin which was officially launched at the Junipalooza Gin Festival in June 2022. It is inspired by the lush, verdant Isle of Wight, with its seagrass beds,and and is packed with summer citrus fruits (from the walled gardens of Osborne House) and wild foraged coastal botanicals. The botanicals for Mermaid Zest Gin are steeped in a pure neutral spirit to extract all the essential oils and thus flavours and aromas. After 24 hours maceration the gin is then redistilled using the “one shot” method and distillation takes a full day in their 300 litre column still. The gin is rested for prior to bottling to allow flavours and aromas to mellow and marry together. 

The botanicals in this Isle of Wight gin are:

Grapefruit
Bergamot – from the gardens of Osborne House
Rosemary – locally foraged from the coastal shores
Cascade Hops – with citrus, floral grapefruit aromas
Lemon Zest – from Osborne House
Rock Samphire
Elderflower – locally foraged
Juniper
Liquorice
Orris Root
Angelica Root
English Coriander
Boudicea Hops
Grains of Paradise

Bottled at 40% ABV, it is the third gin from the distillery to come in their “Mermaid” bottle after the Blue Mermaid and Pink Mermaid (Strawberry) Gins.