Meet April’s Discovery Gin, a sophisticated pink spirit distilled with a piece of space rock!

Every month, separately from the Gin of the Month that features in our boxes, we bring our gin-loving community across the UK a different, specially selected Discovery Gin, available on our Members’ Store. 

These craft gins are all delicious, unique and adventurous spirits that we want to share with club members. All of our Discovery Gins are chosen with a view to helping broaden Clubbers’ gin horizons even further – and this month, we’re flying everyone to the moon!

April 2020’s Discovery Gin is a pink gin like no other. Made with sweet and sour cherries (and without added sugar), Cherry Moon Gin is distilled with one very special ingredient: a piece of space rock!

Read on to find out how this interstellar spirit is made.

April 2020’s Craft Gin Club Discovery Gin

Cherry Moon Gin

44% ABV

Botanicals

Juniper, Sweet Cherry, Sour Cherry, Coriander Seed, Cardamom, Angelica Root, Lemon Peel, Orange Peel, Cinnamon, Grains of Paradise, Orris Root, Rosemary, Nutmeg, Roasted Almonds, Star Anise, Rose Petals, Thai Basilicum

Tasting Notes

A cherry-flavoured gin built on a solid citrus base. A maceration of sweet and sour cherries gives this gin a complex cherry flavour, enhanced by floral rose petals and the gentle warmth of cinnamon. With no added sugar and a 44% ABV, this spirit is a serious and flavourful expression of pink gin. 

Meet the Maker

This month, we’re bringing you a Discovery Gin that’s out of this world… quite literally!

Distilled alongside a genuine meteorite – which smacked into the moon before it landed in the Sahara Desert – April’s Cherry Moon Gin is special for a much earthlier reason, too: it’s totally delicious.

A pink gin with a sophisticated botanical blend and no added sugar, Cherry Moon is the second gin dreamed up by friends Matthew and Tommy, who were ginthusiasts long before they started distilling themselves. Tommy would source new and usual spirits, and they would gather in their backyard in Belgium to sample them.

Matthew says, “As we tasted more gins we got more into it, and began to understand which botanicals we liked. That was the start of our fantasy of making a gin ourselves.”

One tasting session ran late, and a full moon rose in the sky. As Tommy and Matthew sipped their gin and watched the moon, the conversation turned to whether they could ever start their own gin brand. Yes, they decided – that would be a dream worth pursuing.

“I’ve always been interested in space,” says Tommy. “We knew right away that we would call what we made Moon Gin.”

Tommy and Matthew worked together with a master distiller to create their signature Moon Gin recipe, and soon launched a beautiful citrus gin packaged in a bottle as dark as the night sky. Moon Gin was quickly stocked by local bars and restaurants, and even won international awards.

But one person wasn’t buying it: Matthew’s wife!

“When we would go out to local bars and restaurants on double dates, the order would always be the same,” says Matthew. “Three Moon-Gin G&Ts. But my wife would want a pink gin – so we decided to make our own!”  

Matthew and Tommy took the citrus-y base of their original Moon Gin, and layered the flavours of cherry, rose and cinnamon over its bright flavour profile for a pink gin like no other.

Tommy says, “Our master distiller suggested using both sweet and sour cherries, which is a nice combination with the citrus botanicals.”

Distilled alongside the space rock from the Sahara, every drop of Cherry Moon Gin has touched the satellite that inspired it; but that’s not the only amazing innovation that Matthew and Tommy have made.

With no added sugar and a high ABV, they’ve created a pink gin with enough complexity and balance to wow even the most serious spirits enthusiast.

As Matthew says: “I hope that people are surprised to learn that not every pink gin is overly sweet. Cherry Moon is a nice combination of sweet and citrus.”

This is also a gin that packs a punch. “We often hear that people are surprised that it’s 44% ABV,” laughs Tommy. “It’s really soft and easy drinking – it can be dangerous! But the high ABV is why there’s so much flavour.”

Tommy and Matthew love this gin in a G&T, paired with a classic tonic water and garnished with lemon zest, and it also makes a cracking base for cocktails. However you choose to drink this gin, it will be one small sip for you, and one giant leap for gin lovers!

 Fly Me to the Moon

Tommy is fascinated by space. Here are the three ways Cherry Moon Gin pays tribute to the moon.

1. The Distillation Process

Every drop of Cherry Moon Gin is distilled alongside a little piece of space! Tommy and Matthew keep a meteor that had a meeting with the moon before it fell it earth in their still, so every drop of gin has a bit of cosmic flair.

2. The ABV

The ABV (Alcohol by Volume) of Cherry Moon is a key reason it’s such a flavourful spirit, but it’s also a tribute to the moon! The moon is 4.4 billion years old… and Cherry Moon’s ABV is 44 percent!

3. The Bottle

Cherry Moon’s logo is a circle – both a tribute to the flag of Japan, where cherry blossoms bloom every year, but also the moon. Moon Gin’s signature spirit comes packaged in a black bottle with the logo in white, a reference to the full moon that inspired Tommy and Matthew.  

How do I drink it?

Try your Cherry Moon Gin in one of these delicious signature serves!

Image: Instagram

Moon Aviation

60ml Cherry Moon Gin
20ml Maraschino liqueur
20ml fresh lemon juice
10ml violet syrup

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add your ingredients, shake and strain into a cocktail coupe or Martini glass.

Perfect Cherry Moon Gin and Tonic

50ml Cherry Moon
200ml Indian tonic water
Lemon and raspberry, to garnish

Pack a glass with ice. Add your gin, then top with tonic. Stir gently. Garnish and serve.

Cherry Moon Gin is currently available exclusively to Craft Gin Club members as part of our Discovery Series of incredible, adventurous and high-quality artisan gins on our online shop. Buy your bottle now!

Not yet a member? Find out more about joining the club here, or browse our online shop for other amazing gins, tonics, mixers and more - available for everyone to buy!