Fig trees grow abundantly all over France – adorning the edges of vineyards, sporadically appearing in the wild and taking pride of place in private gardens. At the start of springtime, fig trees plump their leaves with an aromatic sap; becoming richly green in colour, whilst wafting the deliciously heavy and sweet aromas of the sun-roasted leaf.

Payne notes that Beefeater Pink Strawberry is inspired by Beefeater’s founder James Burrough's creative curiosity. “A pharmacist by trade before becoming a distiller, Burrough's wonderful inventions included raspberry gin, cherry brandy, British Brandy, [and more],” he explains. “Beefeater continues to embrace Burrough’s passion for colliding quality craftsmanship with experimentation and has created this natural strawberry gin for the new generation of drinkers.” Paye recommends using Beefeater Pink Strawberry to craft The Strawberry B&T by combining one part Beefeater Pink Strawberry with three parts of tonic over ice with fresh strawberries. At Audemus, we’re a rather slim team of three… Well, officially, at least. Behind the scenes, there are many partners we work with who ensure we’re able to deliver the best possible product under the best possible conditions. The closest of these partners is undoubtedly our friends at ELS; a family-run independent bottler and logistics company about 1km away from the distillery. Whether in the offices or on the production line, everyone on the team has almighty patience, heart and love in everything they do – and without them, there is no way we could do what we do.Covert liqueur was born from a desire to bring the fragrant warmth and complexity of three ingredients together in a chord of liquid harmony. Using just fig leaves, spring honey and cognac we capture a flavour in essence which is at once evocative, suave and richly perfumed. The LIVE virtual tastings are carried out in the last week of the month. Please keep an eye on our socials for confirmed dates! So for stateside gin drnkers, let Pink Pepper Gin be a celebration of two marvelous flavors that have been largely unavailable to you. Tasting Notes (then)

Sometimes, though not always. While some pink gins can be overly sweet, a well-balanced pink gin will be more floral-driven and herbal than its cloying counterparts. Seek out well-made expressions from small distillers to dive into the world of delicious, well-made craft gins. In general, I don’t find a ton of change between my 2015 tasting notes and my 2017 tasting notes. This is not to suggest that a gin can’t change; however, in this case I just don’t see a ton of flux. It’s just as good today as when I first opened it, save some of the powerful pink peppercorn and coumarin top notes that were extraordinarily intense. Overall Another contentious (at least in the United States) botanical in this gin is the Tonka Bean. It’s currently still banned stateside for a couple of reasons. The official one being that the beans from this South American tree contain a large quantity of coumarin (generally <3% of essential oil of bean by volume). The more probably reason for the ban of Tonka Beans specifically might be that it was a common adulterant used to deceive customers who thought they were buying vanilla. From a 1906 government report from the state of Connecticut, “The common adulterants of vanilla extract are tonka bean extract…tonka beans are much cheaper than vanilla beans and have a ranker flavor due to coumarin.” Fears of so-called “Mexican Vanilla” endures to this day, despite Mexico being one of the places vanilla grows naturally.

Overall, Cathouse Pink Pepper Gin

Inspired by the Mediterranean flavors and overall joie de vivre of the South of France, Salcombe’s ‘Rosé Sainte Marie’ pink gin is distilled and crafted with a variety of thoughtful botanicals, including Macedonian juniper, angelica, and strawberries. The gin’s natural pink hue is obtained by macerating clear gin with unsweetened red fruits. No sugars, colorings, or artificial flavors are added. Expect flavors of strawberry, orange blossom, rose water, and pink peppercorn to jump from the gin’s smooth palate. Salcombe’s Rosé Sainte Marie Gin is also the only pink gin to win a double gold medal at San Francisco’s World Spirits Competition in 2020. The gin gets its name from the famous lighthouse at the Old Port entrance in Marseille, where workers could regularly be seen loading citrus, fruits, and other herbs onto boats headed to the ports of England. When I was in college, I studied Urban Planning. My senior year studio was in Newark, a mysterious place a PATH trip outside of New York— a place where millennials retired to have kids or live in sterile skyscrapers on the edge of the Hudson. It didn’t take long for me to realize that I just didn’t know Newark. The Ironbound neighborhoodod was a beautiful mess of diverse cultures, great food, interesting architecture— and now home of All Points West Distillery, makers of Cathouse Gin and Cathouse Pink Pepper Gin. Since he was a child, no visit to his Nan was complete without an entire cake having been prepared. For longer stays, two cakes are required. The matriarch of the family, Vera keeps the secrets of her recipe close to her chest, and nobody else knows exactly how she manages to make the sponges so light, or the icing just the right balance between the bitterness of the cocoa, and the sweetness of the chocolate. But she manages perfection every time.