Jo Aspin rounds up the latest drinks to arrive in the UK. This month, try these six sensational new spirits.
Respirited Vodka
One for the environmentally conscious drinker; Respirited is a new fully sustainable British vodka, created from 100% repurposed and rescued grain spirit, left over from the gin distillation process at Hayman’s distillery. It’s taken four years to perfect this incredibly smooth, crisp vodka which undergoes a five-time distilling process. Sustainably packaged too: it’s bottled in recycled glass and uses a sustainable cork and compostable capsule with the label printed on recycled paper. 1% of all sales is donated to environmental causes.
£25
Mapmaker's Rum
Dunnet Bay Distillers has launched this spiced Mapmaker's Rum. It’s a poetic tribute to cartographer Timothy Pont who spent his summers surveying Scotland. In 1600/1601 he was appointed minister of Dunnet Parish and his commemorative plaque can still be found today at Dunnet Parish Church, which is next door to Dunnet Bay Distillery. Blending all things Scottish with the Caribbean, Mapmaker’s house rum has been twice distilled and mixed with Caribbean rum and Loch Calder water. Local botanicals have been sourced including lemon verbena, scurvy grass, sea kelp and Scottish sea salt. Set up by husband and wife team Martin and Claire Murray in 2014, the distillery is located in the wilderness of the far north of Scotland.
Martin Murray, Co-Founder says, “Our Mapmaker’s Rum has been more than three years in the making, with many experiments with local and traditional botanicals to create the perfect recipe. We use lemon verbena grown in our own geodesic dome located in the distillery garden; kelp foraged locally by Shore Seaweed, scurvy grass from the coastline and Scottish sea salt from Blackthorn Salt on the West Coast of Scotland.”
The rum delivers toffee, banana and salted caramel notes with a long-lasting salinity and peppery finish and we think it’s a beauty!
£35
Kyrö Peat Smoke
Finnish distillery Kyrö (pronounced Cura) has launched a new whisky Kyrö Peat Smoke. The full-grain rye malt is peat-smoked in a barn for a period of 24 hours and then aged in New American oak and ex-bourbon barrels. This rye has a distinctive mossy peaty flavour and a malty finish with hints of citrus, warm spice and wet smoke. The Kyrö Distillery Company is a Finnish all-rye distillery founded in the small town of Isokyrö by five friends who noticed a gap in the local whisky market while drinking rye in a sauna together. The next morning they began the journey of creating their own distillery!
£59.95
Four Seas
Here’s a gorgeous new gin with a charitable purpose. Salcombe Gin has partnered up with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) to create Four Seas. 10% of the price of each bottle sold will be donated to support their vital work. The London dry gin is a celebration of British and Irish coastal community spirit and draws inspiration from around the British coastline. The four key botanicals are lemons smoked over Scottish whisky barrel wood chips, tangy sea buckthorn sourced from the Cornish coast, sugar kelp foraged from the Irish Sea and Welsh elderberries.
£39.50
The Dissertation - Oxford Artisan Distillery - EDITOR'S PICK
The Oxford Artisan Distillery has released its latest whisky. The Dissertation is the twelfth batch of their unique rye which uses biodiverse populations of heritage grains. Their grains are all grown in sustainable fields, mirroring what you would have seen in medieval times. The Dissertation has been created using two distinct casks. One is a Ramandolo cask (a sweet Italian wine) and the other is a traditional American Oak Cask resulting in a fruity and sweet whisky with herbiness and delicate floral flavours. Think sweet candies with pastry, nuts and spice.
Master Distiller Chico Rosa comments, “The flavour profile is different from our other Rye whiskies due to the high rye content in the Ramandolo cask. This is a whisky for all seasons, delicious in the summer and winter.”
£97.50
Eden Mill - Art of St Andrews Expression
Scottish illustrator Jill Calder has created bespoke packaging for the Eden Mill's 2023 Art of St Andrews release. The collectable limited edition single malt whisky has been specially crafted by head distiller Scott Ferguson. Art of St Andrews is a unique, lightly peated single malt, matured in a combination of Bourbon, Oloroso and Pedro Ximénez casks, finished in premium ex-Grande Champagne Cognac casks to add some sweeter notes, as well as to maximise depth of flavour and the body of the whisky.
It is non-chill filtered whisky, bottled at 46.5% ABV.
The peated expression has been made using Aberdeenshire peat which has a more floral and grassy profile than peats found in other parts of Scotland.
£150