Yorkshire is leading the way when it comes to making gin in this country

LifestyleFood and Drink The last time I was in South Africa – long before these days of avoiding all kinds of travel – I walked into a bar where they specialise in gin.

Monday, 17th August 2020, 11:45 am

A long way from home – Yorkshire gins in a South African bar.

On sparkling glass shelves, there were 300 gins from all around the world, and behind the bar was a man who was skilled at mixing everything from a brilliant gin and tonic to a fascinating array of gin cocktails.

Naturally I scoured the shelves to check whether they had any Yorkshire gins, and there they were – a bottle of Masons Yorkshire Tea Gin and a bottle of Slingsby Rhubarb Gin. Did they sell well, I asked. “We really try not to sell these because they are so difficult to replace.

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In fact, these two bottles were brought in by a regular Yorkshire visitor who wants to enjoy his favourite gins when he stays here.”

Nicola Lampkin, Alexa Ives and Geri Howson, the three friends behind Cotton Gin, which launched last month.

Apart from this valiant double-bottle export to a bar in South Africa, Yorkshire gins are definitely making a splash around the world. Masons gin is currently exported throughout Europe and to Australia and the Seychelles and it has big plans to develop the export market even further.

Founded in 2013 by Karl and Cathy Mason, they have built up their brand and their blends to the point where you can find Masons gin in supermarkets and bars around the UK. Despite a fire in April 2019, which destroyed their distillery in Aiskew, they moved to Leeming Bar and now have a new still producing around 400,000 bottles a year. Even so, they have ambitious plans to grow and estimate that they will triple production within a few years.

The range started with the Original, a dry Yorkshire gin (Morrisons, £30) with notes of dried orange and lemon peel, fennel, cardamom and bay leaf. The juniper notes are integrated with the other botanicals to give a smooth, rounded taste.

While I love this with tonic, ice and a twist of lime, this summer I am really enjoying the Lavender Edition (Roberts & Speight, £34.99), particularly topped up with Fever-Tree’s Aromatic tonic. The combination of lavender and angostura flavours is a joyous mix on a weekend afternoon. As an evening pre-dinner drink, I switched to the Tea Edition, made using Yorkshire tea (Latitude Wine in Leeds, £35). Poured over ice and topped up with Fever-Tree’s lemon tonic, it has depth and a peppery, savoury style.

While Masons is one of Yorkshire’s longest-established distilleries, Cotton Gin is certainly the newest. “We opened in July, but this has been in the planning stage for quite a while,” said Alexa Ives, of Otterbeck Distillery. Started by three friends, Alexa, Nicola Lampkin and Geri Howson, with the help of Alexa’s husband Chris who is now the distiller, they have invested in a top-notch 450-litre still and installed it in a former cotton mill just outside Skipton, hence the name of the gin.

Chris Ives has a track record of working with alcohol. He founded Ilkley Brewery in 2009, then sold it in 2015 and has now turned his hand to distilling.

“We started with a one-litre pot still in the kitchen and spent Sunday afternoons fine-tuning our recipe. We had help from celebrity chef James Martin, who is a friend, and he showed us how flavours work together,” said Alexa.

“Then we had to upscale from our small still to a proper one. We bought our Carl still from Germany, which is distinctive because of the design of the rectifying column. There are just two of these special stills in the UK so we are lucky that we have got one. The advantage of this still is the way it produces a smooth-tasting gin. Once the still was installed, we had a master distiller come and upscale our recipe to suit its capacity. We had to tweak some of the botanicals to get it exactly right, but now we have made our fourth batch and we are really pleased with it.”

Using locally foraged botanicals, including Yorkshire watercress, to give Cotton Gin its unique taste, this is a light and fresh style of gin, with juniper integrated in the herbaceous notes. Alexa suggested it can be enjoyed neat, over ice with a twist of lemon peel and a sprig of rosemary. I enjoyed this but actually preferred it a more conventional way with ice, tonic and lemon.

Still making its way out into shops, you can find Cotton Gin (around £37.95 for 70cl, £15.50 for 20cl) at Keelham Farm Shop, Yorkshire Vintners and the Wright Wine Co and it is being served at the Angel in Hetton, the Coniston Hotel in Skipton and in several other local pubs and restaurants. Cotton Gin has also made it into James Martin’s restaurant at Chewton Glen in Hampshire and Paul Ainsworth’s restaurant in Padstow in Cornwall. Perhaps when I next visit that bar in South Africa there will be another Yorkshire gin on the shelves.

Once you have chosen your gin, make sure you don’t drown it in poor-quality tonic. I like the range from Fever-Tree (widely available, including in major supermarkets) but Fentimans (Morrisons and others) and Franklin & Sons (House of Townend) are also highly recommended, especially Franklin & Sons Sicilian lemon tonic which is refreshing in its own right but goes wonderfully with a splash of gin on a hot summer’s day.

Under no circumstances use a sugar-free tonic in a decent gin. Artificial sweeteners always get in the way of the gin flavour and

if you are watching your waistline you can offset the extra calories in the full-sugar version by avoiding the olives and crisps that will inevitably be served up with your drink.

The ingredients of a decent gin and tonic are so simple it is surprising that not all of them hit the spot. Big balloon glasses are right on trend now and they look so very attractive that everyone will want to drink what you are drinking. I have rescued some old, rather beautiful cut-glass brandy balloons which were never quite right for their original purpose but look simply stylish with chunks of ice, gin, tonic and a garnish.

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