The West Country’s seemingly unstoppable march towards becoming the centre of boutique gin-making in the UK – see our articles on Wicked Wolf and Salcombe Voyager – continues this month with the launch of Talland Bay No 1, said to be Cornwall's first “single-estate” gin to be commissioned by a hotel.
The claim is made by the owners of Cornwall’s award-winning Talland Bay Hotel, which has collaborated with the Colwith Farm distillery that produces the base spirit from its own potato crop before adding a suitable range of botanicals – some of which are foraged from the hotel’s coastal gardens.
Tasting a couple of pre-launch miniatures – one neat with ice and the other mixed with a good-quality tonic water – revealed a clean and markedly floral spirit that (perhaps through autosuggestion) seems to convey nicely the fresh and windswept ambience of Talland Bay’s clifftop. Definitely not deduced via autosuggestion, however, was a powerful overtone reminiscent of amaretto and therefore, to my mind, that most festive of bread products – panettone. The gin is also presented in a modern apothecary-style bottle.
So if you’re partial to a palate-bracing G&T before tucking into a hearty Christmas lunch, perhaps a bottle of Talland Bay No 1 should be on your yuletide shopping list? But you’ll need to act quickly to secure a bottle before December 25 – it’s only available direct from the hotel (£40 for 50cl, including postage and packing).
