Berkshire Botanical
Rhubarb & Raspberry
- Yattendon Distillery
- West Berkshire
Orchard fruitBerry / red fruit
Tart stewed rhubarb up front, then raspberry — jammy rather than sweet, with the pips' dry edge. Juniper sits underneath and keeps it a gin rather than a liqueur. Pink fruit finish, clean and slightly sour.
Serve
1:2 — a plain tonic lets the fruit lead without doubling the sugar
Garnish — A thin ribbon of rhubarb
Cocktails
Bramble
A gin sour with blackberry bleeding down through the crushed ice: sharp lemon first, then dark sweet fruit at the bottom of the glass. The liqueur is heavy and sweet, so the gin has to push back — juniper and bite carry through where a softer floral bottle just gets buried.
The raspberry already in the gin meets the crème de mûre halfway, so the drink tastes of fruit rather than syrup.
Gin Sour
Lemon leads and sugar follows close enough to keep it drinkable, while egg white thickens the texture and rounds off the acid. The foam is cool and near-tasteless; the sour underneath is bright and sharp. Juniper has to push through all that citrus, so a dry, assertive gin holds its shape best.
The stewed rhubarb's own tartness runs with the lemon while the raspberry's jammy weight and the pips' dry edge give the sugar and egg white something fruity to round off.
Gin & Tonic
Long, dry and bitter-edged, the tonic's quinine pulling against the gin's botanicals while the lime wedge sharpens both. Refreshing rather than contemplative. The gin has to hold its shape against all that dilution: juniper and citrus carry through, where delicate florals tend to vanish.
Quinine's bitterness lands cleanly on this gin's slightly sour pink-fruit finish, and the juniper sitting under the rhubarb is enough to keep it a G&T rather than a raspberry soda.
