Spirit of adventure
Fiona Whitty gets a taste for gin-making, superb seafood and a tee-time treat in Suffolk
People say it’s like a chemistry lesson,” smiled the ginmaking guide as she meticulously measured out the botanicals I’d chosen. If only science classes at school had been this much fun I’d have paid more attention. For now I was all ears as “teacher” Christine Stockdale encouraged me to smell and taste nearly 40 dried herbs, flowers, berries, fruits, bark, roots and spices.
My partner Tim and I were about to make our very own gins in the distillery lab at Adnams Brewery in Southwold,
Suffolk – the same lab used by head distiller John McCarthy when he’s conjuring up the brand’s new spirits.
Gin snobs may be alarmed to hear that gin is made from vodka. Rule number one is that it has to contain juniper. Rule two, it has to be at least 37.5% alcohol.
You create your own unique blend by adding different botanicals to your vodka base then distilling it.
Being on the East Anglian coast, I wanted to create a gin that reflected fresh air and bracing walks so added meadowsweet, thyme, grains of paradise, hibiscus, thyme and of course juniper to my 70cl of Adnams’
Longshore Vodka. The hardest bit was choosing a name for it. Whitty’s Ruin? Gin Gin? I played it safe and settled on Coastal.
While my fledgling gin steamed away in an individual copper still, Christine gave us a taste tour of Adnams’ spirits, including their three vodkas and several gins. Dangerous at midday on a Sunday but rather enjoyable – eye-opening and eye-closing in equal measure.
Beer has been brewed in Southwold on Adnams’ current site behind its showcase hotel The Swan for 351 years.
Adnams themselves took over the