Porters Tropical Old Tom Gin, Aberdeen 40%

Description

Porters Tropical Old Tom Gin is the second gin from Porters, after their original gin. Like Porters Gin, this is a modern gin made using a fusion of new and old distillation techniques but made in the Old Tom Gin style, the sweeter style of Gin that became popular in the 18th Century during the original gin boom.

Porters Gin is the brainchilde of Iravani, Josh Rennie and Alex Lawrence who are based at Orchid cocktail bar in Aberdeen. Ben, Josh and Alex had been toying with producing their own gin for a number of years. What sets Porters Gin apart from most of its competitors is the use of cold distillation. In partnership with Professor Andrew Porter of Aberdeen University they came up with the idea of using a rotary evaporator to cold distil some of the botanicals (yes, the gin is named after Professor Porter). Essentially a rotary evaporator allows distillation to carried out in a vacuum or very low pressure. Those of you who remember their school chemistry lessons will remember that liquid effectively reach boiling point and evaporate at much lower temperatures in a vacuum. Thus the flavours and aromas (essential oils) of more delicate botanicals can be gently extracted using this process which would perhaps be damaged or denatured using a traditional (hot distillation). With interest in molecular gastronomy growing, rotary evaporators have been found in professional kitchens for a number of years where they are used to produce extracts and distillates. There are also other gin producers that use them including Oxley, Hepple and Sacred Hill amongst others.

So essentially Porters Tropical Old Tom Gin is a sweetened style of gin made with tropical botanicals. The base gin has a classic  a juniper led base made with 100% British wheat spirit. The tropical botanicals, passion fruit, guava and white tea are cold distilled and then blended with the base gin at Porters Gin’s new micro-distillery in Aberdeen. The lifted exotic fruit character is then balance with just a little sweetness to make a superb Old Tom Style Gin.