FIRST JOURNEYS - 80 GINS AROUND THE WORLD - PIN 71 OF 80
COTSWOLDS DISTILLERY, UK
Baharat Exotic Gin
(Inspired by ancient Silk Roads)
AROUND THE WORLD, ONE BOTTLE AT A TIME,
PHILEAS FOGG WOULD SURELY APPROVE
A Middle Eastern spice blend, an English distillery and a gin inspired by the ancient Spice Route.
I'm sure many of you are familiar with Cotswolds Cloudy Gin, but they have a rather lovely range of other gins too. I've been fortunate enough to try several of them when visiting the distillery, and whilst their Ginger Gin is another favourite of mine, this one eventually pipped it to the post and came home with me.
Baharat is a spice blend found across the Middle East and parts of North Africa. The Arabic word baharat simply means "spices" and refers to a family of blends rather than one fixed recipe. There isn't a single definitive baharat, with the ingredients changing from country to country and even from one household to another.
That makes perfect sense when you think about the history of the region. Spices travelled westwards from Asia along the ancient trading routes, passing through the Middle East and becoming an important part of the food cultures they encountered along the way. Over time, cooks developed their own combinations, using the spices available locally and adapting them to their own cuisine.
A Turkish blend might include mint or fennel, whilst other versions can feature cinnamon, cumin, coriander, black pepper, cloves or even rose. It has some similarities to blends such as garam masala and za'atar, but they aren't interchangeable — each has its own history and place in the cuisine it belongs to.
The common thread is that baharat is warm, aromatic and earthy, with the individual spices creating a blend that is fragrant rather than necessarily hot or fiery. It seemed like the perfect inspiration for another stop on the Spice Route.
Cotswolds have taken that idea and turned it into a gin, combining juniper with coriander, cardamom, chilli, cinnamon, clove, cumin and black pepper — a collection of spices that wouldn't look out of place in a traditional baharat blend. They then add fresh Jaffa orange peel, bringing some bright citrus to the recipe.
I think this is one of those gins where the story makes the ingredient list even more interesting. These aren't simply exotic botanicals chosen because they sound unusual; they are spices that have travelled, been traded and become part of the food culture of the Middle East and beyond.
The gin is made at Cotswolds Distillery, founded by Daniel Szor in 2014 and based at Stourton in the Cotswolds. The distillery has grown considerably since I first visited, with gin now sitting alongside its increasingly well-known whisky production.
Baharat makes a lovely G&T, but I decided to take the spice theme somewhere completely different and made a Spiced Espresso Martini.
Baharat is longer part of the current Cotswolds range, so this one has simply become another little piece of its history.
"The Exotic Middle East"
BAHARAT ESPRESSO MARTINI
45ml Cotswolds Baharat Gin
15ml Lava Spirits Coffee & Orange Gin
30ml espresso coffee
10ml sugar syrup
Served alongside a piece of Persian almond nougat — because if we're going to follow the Spice Route, we might as well follow it all the way to dessert!
"Show me a bottle
and I'll tell you a story."