Gin Eva - Citrus Bergamia

Gin description

In late 2016 we were looking for a citrus farm which grows Yuzu. A very rare citrus fruit, originally from Japan. It is very popular among many great chefs for its unique aroma. We were going to distill a Gin together with German michelin – starred chef Benjamin Peifer, where Yuzu was supposed to be the most important ingredient, besides juniper, of course. The Gin was named after his Restaurant Intense – Gintense. Luckily we strolled over Franc who grows all kind of citrus fruits on his farm in Valencia. He is specializing in very exotic fruits, like Yuzu, but also grows different types of blood oranges, lime- and kumquats, great clementine varieties, a very interesting cross of lemon and orange, called Meyer lemon and bergamot oranges (citrus bergamia). Last is a hybrid of lime and bitter orange. Impressed by the deep, intense flavor of the Yuzu distillate – which in our opinion is even more interesting on the palate than in the nose, because the essential oils are to heavy to be volatile on its whole spectrum, we asked Franc to sent us samples of all his citrus fruits. After we macerated and distilled everything, there was one distillate that was really outstanding (actually two, but more on that later). The nose was a bitter-sweet perfume, quite zesty, and long , offering more and more nuances each smell. On the palate super zesty and that characteristic bitter- sweet citrus aroma which was also present in the nose – bursting with flavor. We immediately fell in love with our bergamot distillate. We blended the bergamot spirit with a distillate of Macedonian juniper (the biggest and sweetest juniper berries we ever had) and decided to add nothing else. Impressed by the complexity and depth of the Gin, while only using 2 botanicals, we decided to give the gin a few months of rest, so the essential oils can oxidize and reach their full flavor. The result is a great sipping Gin. Rather citrus forward and crisp, it also works great as a digestive after a nice meal – neat or on ice. It makes a great G&T and an even better 50/50 Martini.