An official Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the Cotswolds is an expanse of Arcadian countryside like no other. This December, join the team here at Craft Club HQ as we discover how this magical corner of the world inspired our December 2020 Gin of the Month, which our wonderful members can find in their December 2020 Gin of the Month box.
Cotswold Dry Gin The Cloudy Christmas Gin
A Craft Gin Club exclusive!
Distilled in the Cotswolds, UK
42% ABV
Botanicals:
Juniper, angelica, grapefruit, clementine, lavender, cardamom, black pepper, bay leaf and coriander.
Tasting Notes:
On the nose, expect bold citrus led by the Christmassy aroma of clementine. The liquid, rich in oils from the citrus fruits, has a velvety smooth mouth-feel and traditional flavour profile. As the flavours dissipate, you’re left with a long, lingering finish of juniper, cardamom and Cotswolds lavender.
Spirit of a Cotswolds Christmas
Cotswolds Distillery
When the frost creeps in and snowflakes swirl, there’s nowhere as welcoming as the hearth of the Cotswolds Distillery. Housed in a honey-coloured building, it’s a home away from home filled with jovial spirits, laughter and roaring fires.
“I love the scent of wood smoke that you get as soon as you come into our visitors’ centre on a cold day.”
Complete with comfy armchairs, cosy wood panelling and windows looking out over the bucolic countryside, the distillery is a delightful place to enjoy a Cloudy G&T or a dram of Cotswolds whisky.
“In the winter it’s so cosy, light and bright, with a real homely feel. It’s like you’re walking into your own front room, but with more booze! We love having people come for tours and masterclasses, and they often end up making a whole afternoon of it. It’s not a place you want to leave.”
It’s easy to understand why. The friendly, passionate distillers there are always keen to bend your ear about their amazing range of spirits, pour you a sample (or two!) or introduce you to Dolly, the gleaming copper still where the magic happens.
Dolly, Cotswolds Dry Gin still
Step outside the warmth of the distillery in December and something of a winter wonderland awaits. The idyllic hamlet of Stourton is like a scene straight out of a snow globe, and the sloping hills promise afternoons filled with dreamy winter walks.
How exactly did Dan first set up a distillery in this picturesque part of the world? In large part we have fate to thank.
Written in the Stars
Christmas is a time for tradition, and in many ways travelling to the Cotswolds in December is like taking a step back in time. With its cosy pubs, thatched cottages and country churches, there’s a strong sense of nostalgia in this idyllic place.
A Cotswolds village at Christmas time
It was the chance to escape the predictability of modern life that first attracted Dan to this cosy corner of the world, when he visited the Cotswolds while on a short country escape from his life working in the city. One weekend was all it took for him to fall in love with the beauty and character of the Cotswolds.
“I realised that if you want to talk about romance of place, there are not many parts of the world that hold a candle to the Cotswolds. There’s a romantic notion of what this place is – Old England, small villages and natural beauty. And it’s all true.”
Dan had lived in New York, Paris and London, but the glamour of these iconic cities dimmed in comparison to the Cotswolds’ warmth, authenticity and sense of community.
“It took me 50 years to get here – better late than never! I can genuinely say that I love this place to the point that I built a distillery as an excuse to live here.”
After their holiday Dan and his family decided to make the Cotswolds their weekend home, but for five days a week he remained in his London office.
“I spent 30 years in a loveless relationship with my career in finance. It was during that time that I discovered my real passion: spirits.”
Although Dan had long harboured dreams of forging a career for himself in spirits – specifically whisky – when it came to taking the leap of faith, he needed a little nudge.
“Turning the dream into a reality was simple once I was made redundant. It was like fate telling me ‘if you’re going to reinvent yourself professionally, you’re going to do it now’. The company I had worked at for over three decades had gone out of business, and I realised if I found another job in the same profession that would mean selling out for life.”
No longer tied to a job he was indifferent to, Dan had the freedom to move to his favourite place in the world and pursue what he was passionate about. He and his family packed up their belongings and made the move to the Cotswolds full time, his mind’s eye full of visions of the distillery he wanted to create.
He found the perfect premises and got started. But the first thing he distilled wasn’t gin at all – it was whisky. Working with a whole host of experts, he set about crafting the Cotswolds’ first-ever single malt using local barley. But once the first batch of his flagship spirit was safely casked, he found himself at a loss. What should he work on for the three years it takes whisky to mature?
Dan Szor, founder of Cotswolds Distillery, with his whisky barrels
The answer came to him quickly: gin! With gin, there’s no need to wait around for maturation, and the more he studied it, the more intoxicating he found the idea of working with this juniper-led spirit.
“Whisky is like this old-school form of painting where you are completely limited stylistically – you have to follow a certain path. With gin, it’s like modern art: you can do anything. And we did!”
Celebrating the Cotswolds
In the summer of 2014, the Cotswolds were bursting with sunshine and blooming with lavender. Dan, freshly settled in his favourite place in the world, found himself wishing he could capture the moment forever.
“When I set out to make my flagship gin, I challenged myself to capture the beauty of the Cotswolds in a bottle. Provenance had been important to me since I had spent over 10 years in France. The French gave the world the concept of terroir – that is, understanding a wine or spirit through the characteristics of where it’s made. From France, I went to Scotland and found that the concept of place was also really important for Scotch whisky.”
Cotswolds lavender
Dan selected three talented distillers and together they set about creating the recipe for Cotswolds Dry Gin.
They had an idea of what they wanted, but they were determined to leave no stone unturned. They began by identifying 150 different botanicals they could use, and then distilled them one by one in small batches to see how their flavours came through in a liquid.
After identifying the most intriguing flavours, Dan and his team went on to develop 60 different recipes. It took a fair bit of drinking and friendly debate amongst the four of them, but eventually, they were able to whittle it down to their top three. All three were beautiful liquids, but with the help of local flavour experts, they chose the winner.
Bright, light and full of citrusy flavours, Cotswolds Dry Gin has gone on to win awards and the hearts of gin lovers all over the world. With a strong backbone of juniper, fresh citrus peel pared by hand and Cotswolds lavender, the final result was everything Dan had hoped for and more.
Just by looking at it, especially when you’ve topped it up with a splash of tonic, you can tell that it’s special. Its swirling, cloudy appearance, reminiscent of the mists of a Cotswolds Christmas Eve, offers a clue to its unique flavour and mouthfeel.
And this key characteristic — the cloudy G&T — has carried over into the incredibly special expression that The Cotswolds Distillery has created for members this Christmas.
Cotswolds Cloudy G&T
A Cloudy Christmas
Central to the success of the Cotswolds Distillery is Dan’s intuition. Of course, he has the taste to know a good gin from a bad one, but more importantly he has a talent for spotting people with potential. Six years on, his team has grown by leaps and bounds – there are now over 40 people in The Cotswolds Distillery family.
“The thing that I’m most proud of is the team that we’ve built. In a relatively lightly populated part of the world it’s hard to find any people, never mind great ones – but that’s exactly what we’ve managed to do.”
One of the rising stars of the Cotswolds Distillery is Alice, who began her journey with gin just two years ago. She’s a local, having grown up amongst the rolling hills of the Cotswolds. After finishing her A-levels in Stratford-upon-Avon, Alice found herself looking for a summer job and the Cotswolds Distillery caught her eye.
Cotswolds Dry Gin bottles
She started out with a job on the bottling line, before working in the shop and giving tours to guests. But it didn’t take her long to find her way to where she was really meant to be: the special lab where new spirits are developed. It was there that she truly came into her own.
Despite being relatively young in years, Alice quickly showed that she possessed an exceptional palate and an aptitude for distilling.
“Alice came into this with few preconceptions and has just blossomed creatively in the past two years. It shows that you can teach people the science of distilling, but ultimately it’s all about your palate and your relationship with flavour. Alice has a natural gift.”
By the time Jon and John approached The Cotswolds Distillery about creating a special Christmas edition, Alice had already created several gins, including an award-winning Old Tom. Dan knew that if anyone could create something special for Craft Gin Club members this Christmas, it was her.
When Alice got to work on Cotswolds Cloudy Christmas Gin, she had a clear vision of what she wanted to make: something juniper-led and traditional, with a touch of Christmas magic.
“We wanted to make something that was in the same family as our Cotswolds Dry Gin, but with a Christmassy twist. I landed on clementine as something quintessentially festive that also captures the bright, citrusy flavours in our signature edition.”
Rather than just using fresh citrus peel, as they do with their signature edition, Alice was excited to experiment with a new technique.
“We‘ve always been known for our relentless pursuit of full flavour. The more flavour you can pack into the spirit the better. With this spirit for Craft Gin Club, Alice has taken things a step further. She’s used the whole fruit rather than just the peel, which is not an easy thing to do.”
To complement juniper and clementine, she added seven other carefully selected botanicals, including lavender picked on a nearby farm in Snowshill.
“We use local lavender in our signature Cotswolds Dry Gin and transferred it to this edition. It comes through very subtly on the finish, bringing it back full circle. The clementine gives you a burst at the beginning and then you finish with a lingering taste of the Cotswolds.”
Cotswolds Dry Gin The Cloudy Christmas Gin botanicals
The final result speaks for itself. Our December 2020 Gin of the Month captures the essence of one of the most charming places in the country, in a Christmassy bottle that’s sure to be right at home on your drinks trolley this December.
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