A modern take on ~ A CLASSIC GIN WITH A CORNISH TWIST - 42% abv
CREATED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE CORNISH SAFFRON COMPANY
Distilled with ~ 13 HAND-SELECTED BOTANICALS
WITH CORNISH SAFFRON, ROSE & ALMOND
Distilled in ~ SMALL BATCHES
IN OUR 4 COPPER POT STILLS
BOTANICALS
We’ve hand-selected 13 different botanicals – carefully sourced from both distant and exotic locations around the world as well as Cornwall's Roseland peninsula – to craft a gin in proud partnership with The Cornish Saffron Company.
JUNIPER ~ from Italy
CORIANDER SEED ~ from Bulgaria
LIQUORICE ROOT ~ from Uzbekistan
ANGELICA ROOT ~ from Poland
ORRIS ROOT ~ from Morocco
GREEN CARDAMON ~ from Guatemala
CINNAMON ~ from Madagascar
BITTER ALMONDS ~ from Morocco
FRESH ORANGE, LEMON & GRAPEFRUIT PEEL ~ (seasonally sourced)
VIOLETS ~ from Devon
SAFFRON ~ Roseland peninsula, Cornwall
Our Process
As a fully-independent, family-run business, we at Southwestern Distillery like to celebrate the fact that we do things a little bit differently.
The Cornish Crocus Gin is lovingly infused with all local Cornish Saffron, proudly and uniquely grown on the beautiful Roseland Peninsula by The Cornish Saffron Company’s very own Brian Eyers. Each season over 20 000 individual Crocus flowers are harvested and the Saffron stigmas plucked, all by hand – A botanical worth more than its weight in gold. Tarquin also adds Rose petals and Almond to create a special Limited Edition Gin full of fragrance and a touch of Cornish luxury.
At the heart of our distilling process lies Tarquin’s three 250 litre hand-beaten copper pot-stills.
TAMARA, SENARA & TRESSA
To this day, these stills continue to be fired by direct naked flame and are sealed at the joints with bread dough. These distilling techniques are about as old-school as you can find.
Alongside these original copper pot-stills proudly sits the newest addition to the distillery, FERARRA – a state of the art, one-of-a-kind 500 litre copper still. Championing a combination of the progressively modern and the authentically traditional Tarquin uses these four stills collectively to create his internationally award-winning spirits.
When it’s time to create our Limited Edition Tarquin’s Cornish Crocus Gin, we first start the process of distilling our flagship Tarquin’s Cornish Dry Gin as the base. To do this, 11 of the botanicals are added to our stills (with the exception of the violets) and left to macerate overnight in a wheat based neutral grain spirit.
In the morning Tarquin simply adds the missing violets to complete the botanical recipe, and then it’s time to fire up the stills.
As the stills heat up Tarquin is constantly monitoring the process, nosing and tasting as the distilled spirit comes off the still at different temperatures. We collect only the purest ‘heart of the distillation’ (achieved when the still has reached the magic temperature of 78’c), collecting and setting aside the ‘heads’ and ‘tails’ cuts (the first and last parts of the distillation) that don’t make the most selective taste and texture grade.
Post distillation, this ‘hearts cut’ (around 76% abv neat Gin) is reduced with de-mineralized Cornish spring water to bring it down to the desired 42% abv. Finally, the gin is delicately steeped with Cornish saffron and rose oil.
Every single bottle is then individually hand-filled, hand-labelled, dipped into a slow-cooker filled with paraffin wax, stamped with our Puffin logo, given batch tasting notes and then individually hand-signed.
We truly believe in the value of maximising the human-touch at every stage of the process.
NO SHORT-CUTS ~ NO OUT-SOURCING ~ NO COMPROMISE
When Tarquin puts “Handcrafted in Cornwall” on every bottle, he really does mean it.
tasting notes
APPEARANCE ~ Bold and vibrant, ready to be poured.
42 % VOL
TASTE ~ Deep and rich with bitter honey notes from Cornish saffron combine with smooth almond in perfect balance which enhances a dry martini to exotic new heights.
NOSE ~ Earthy and rich with a hint of freshly cut grass and light floral notes of rose.
FINISH ~ Sweet with a touch of rose, perfect with rice dishes and honeyed desserts.
Crafted on the wild Cornish coast
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Available throughout the UK