GREEK BEAUTY

It's the final week and I'm going to be whizzing around Europe, stopping at some of my favourite gins before being back in London for #worldginday on the 12th. 

Mataroa is distilled at one of the oldest distilleries in Greece - Melissanidi Distillery established in 1924.  They are based in the north near Thessaloniki and they claim the spring water they use from the Kaimaktsalan mountain is what makes their spirits special.  The third generation of the Melissanidi family now run the distillery and they make Ouzo and Tsipouro Arhontiko and Mataroa Mediterranean Dry Gin.

This gorgeous blue bottle is the colour of the sea and the botanical lineup oozes balmy Mediterranean summers when you can catch the scent of herbs and spices from the region on the evening breeze. 

Mataroa was a ship under the flag of New Zealand and after WW2 it made a couple of important journeys across the Mediterranean Sea.  In 1945 it travelled from Marseilles to Haifa with 173 Hebrew refugee children, saved by the OSE Organisation and it was chartered again during the Greek Civil War by the French Institute of Athens to transport a number of Greek intellectuals and artists from Piraeus to Taranto, to help them flee political prosecution.

RMS Mataroa was built in Belfast in 1921 and formerly named Diogenes.  She had a sister ship called Sophocles, renamed Tamaroa, when they were chartered by Shaw, Savill & Albion for the NZ trade in 1926.  Both ships served as troopships in WW2 and were then refitted as tourist ships after the war.  Mataroa was scrapped in 1957 after many journeys all around the world and the ship's bell was given to New Zealand's Mataroa School.  So they claim in several records, however I read that there was a bit of a mixup and the bell from the SS Karamea, which was taken out of service around the same time, was actually sent to Mataroa!  The bell was damaged when the school was rebuilt and apparently is still on display in the school foyer.  Another interesting titbit is that one of the serving officers on board the Mataroa had served on the Titanic.   Third Officer Herbert Pitman survived the disaster and returned to service shortly after his Masters Certificate was reissued after being lost in the disaster.  He was stripped of his title due to colour blindness (there was big outroar about this around 1912, so do google if you want to know more about it!) and moved to the position of Purser, serving on the SS Mataroa during WW2.  He received an MBE in 1948 for his long and meritorious service at sea and in dangerous waters.  

In 2019 the ship became the inspiration for Mataroa Mediterranean Dry Gin and the bottle's cargo is 12 botanicals from around the Mediterranean coast.  The premium blend symbolises strength, devotion and continuity and includes chamomile, lavender, mastic, mandarin, orange, orris, angelica, bay leaf, coriander, lemon peel, juniper and liquorice.

I've served this as a G&T with Mediterranean tonic.  I wasn't surprised to notice the liquorice quite upfront, especially since Greece is so famous for it's ouzo, but with tonic this makes for a delicious, herbal and fresh G&T.  Of course, you need a side of Greek nibbles too!

THE CROATIAN ARTISAN

I'm revisiting Zagreb today and stopping by my beautiful bottle of Artisan Gin. This gin launched last year and is now being represented in the UK by BBB Drinks, so I'm sure we are going to see a lot more of it!

The Artisan have chosen to use cutting edge vacuum distillation – an expensive and complicated process with a small yield. We are seeing quite a few distilleries  adopt this technique, which uses very low heat to extract the essences over several hours. This means the botanicals are not "cooked" and so the aromas stay pure and unchanged.

They use 14 botanicals, 6 of which are sourced locally in Croatia. Each one is milled into a powder, macerated and then distilled separately for varying amounts of time. If you want a richly aromatic gin, then this is for you. Juniper is definitely prominent, but lavender, liquorice and orris contribute to the aroma and sweetness. It also includes lemon, orange peel, elderflower and olive leaves.

Orris, which we all know, is the root of the Iris plant plays two parts; the first representing the national flower, but more importantly, it is used to bind and enhance flavours and scents. It’s one of the most expensive botanicals used, because the perfume industry buys up most of it, Chanel in particular. If you nose the empty glass after tasting it neat, the aroma is heady and sweet and it really does transport you to a Croatian evening, where you can faintly catch the scent of the countryside on the cool breeze.

This gin is a labour of love, with a name fitting to the amount of work put into milling, distilling, filling and hand labelling each bottle. Even the caps are individually handmade, so no two are the same. This is craft; this is Artisan.

The cocktail is a gin sour, coloured with butterfly pea flowers, with a bit of Rahat-Lokum on the side (sometimes called Ratluk or Lokum in Croatia).  You're probably saying, nope, that's Turkish Delight and you aren't wrong! The sweet's origin is not precisely known, but it has been produced in Turkey since the 18th century and the various names used for it in Mediterranean, North African and Arabic countries are derived from the Arabic words for "comfort for the throat" and morsel or mouthful - except the Greeks who call it Greek Delight! (if you know, you know!)

KLEIN BLUE

44N Gin

You can't deny, this is not just a beautiful bottle, but it's also a beautiful gin.  I've posted it a few times, but I wanted to go back to one of my older posts which focussed on the colour of the bottle.

I've always been drawn to the colour blue, as was Yves Klein. Klein was born in Nice in 1928 and was one of the most controversial and prominent artists in the 1950s but he was best known for developing his own unique pigment - International Klein Blue IKB. He developed this colour with the help of a chemist, in a bid to find a blue that would not fade like others did. The blue is his legacy to the world - his way of helping us all unlock the infinite and the sublime through a single, pure colour. For him, blue suggested infinity and erased the division between earth and sky and he wanted it to unlock our imagination and be inspired by it.

His most controversial exhibition was called The Void. It was an entirely empty gallery painted white but people queued in their hundreds to see it. He created excitement and mystery by only allowing 10 people in at a time and he served them a gin-based cocktail, which turned their urine his iconic Klein Blue!

Not only does Klein Blue capture the essence of the South of France, with its endless skies and shimmering blue sea but it's evocative of holidays on the Côte d'Azur, where everything is bathed in sunshine and kissed by the fragrant breeze from the botanicals which grow wildly around the coast and mountains.

44°N Gin, created in Grasse, the perfume capital of the world, unapologetically proud of their modern distilling methods and firmly connected to their environment, present their luxury gin in a Klein Blue Glass bottle. The sun and its rays are represented by the perfume-inspired cork and top whilst the colour and texture of the bottle mimics the sea and seabed.

Let's just appreciate this bottle and a very simple Rose Negroni, using 44N, Sacred Rosehip and Regal Rouge Rose Vermouth.

PRODUCT OF THE SUN

As it appears we are not going to get to many destinations in Europe this summer, we have to holiday vicariously through our gin collections and choose bottles that conjure up those magical feelings of bright summer days and balmy Mediterranean evenings.

It's that "southern light" around Provence that seduced and intoxicated many Impressionist artists.  Even today artists are inspired by the sunlight that bathes the seaside resorts and hilltop villages, as well as the mild climate and the culture of the area.  Many artists and writers fell in love with the Cote d'Azur and moved there and so it's no surprise that there are so many gin brands that are also taking inspiration from the region and trying to showcase and capture its essence in a bottle.

Although Gin D'Azur is all about the south of France, it is distilled at a family-run distillery in Saint Sauvant, Cognac.  Each hand-picked ingredient is distilled separately on open flame copper stills in order to capture all the beautiful aromatic compounds.  If you have been following me and read a few of my previous posts about French gins, specifically those distilled in Cognac, you will remember I mentioned that using the cognac stills outside of November to March was not permitted until recent years.  This has seen many distilleries now producing gin when they are not making cognac and there are some exceptional gins to come from this.  The founder Roland and Paul Caris (the distiller) have worked together to produce this amazing gin, which is a blend of individually distilled botanicals.

The gin features a blend of botanicals including thyme, rosemary and lavender from Provence, marjoram from Alpes-Maritimes and Menton lemon peel finished with salt and star anise from the Camargue region.  

My serve is a blue lady, but I've added a little grenadine too to balance out the lemon and colour!

THE ESSENCE OF BARCELONA

Day 77 #virtualworldgintour

Roger Burgués and Lluís Jáuregui, Barcelona-born entrepreneurs and food lovers, came together with a group of experts of their industry and embarked on a quest for perfection, combining all their individual talents to craft a superior gin with character and personality - a gin that reflects the avant-garde gastronomic spirit of Barcelona.

In trying to understand exactly what this brand was about, I looked into the background of the founders and professionals they collaborated with.  Barcelona has been a key player in the renaissance of gin and there are a number of local gin producers who are proving that Spain's gin offerings are more about culture and are influenced by food.   The pair saw a gap in the market and an opportunity to combine food and gin in a bottle to create a luxury product, worthy of a place behind the bar in Michelin-starred restaurants.  In 2013 they co-founded Mediterranean Premium Spirits, which included the brand and product development of Ginraw as well as Bonanto (Aperitivo).  Ginraw is produced for them in the Mascaro Distillery just outside the city of Barcelona, in Vilafranca del Penedès by Master Distiller Montse Mascaro.  I've previously posted about Mascaro - The family has been creating high quality wine and spirits for three generations and Gin 9 is the only gin they produce under their own label and contains just one botanical - wild juniper from the Penedes ares of Catalunya.

A little more about the experts they collaborated with:

Xano Saguer, a chef and owner of the first restaurant in the world dedicated exclusively to desserts and a dessert school in Barcelona;

Sergi Figueres, a sommelier, who was named Spain’s best sommelier in 2012 and co-founder of Thunder Wine Makers;

Javier Caballero, a modern mixologist specialising in Flair Bartending and Evolutionary Cocktails, founder and director of Liquid Experience and amongst many achievements on a very impressive CV, he has created signature cocktails for some very well known brands eg Sipsmith, Bulldog, St Germain, Haymans, Monkey 47, Tanqueray.  If you are seriously into making cocktails, he's definitely one to read up about as he teaches techniques and methods on how to mix by sense, taste perception and how to add value to your recipes; 

Rosendo Mateu, a prestigious perfumer with over 40 years of specialist experience working at Puig, one of the best perfume companies in the world;  after developing dozens of perfume brands he now devotes himself to a custom range of perfume which bears his name.  

Together they have created a gin which is produced using both traditional methods, as well as modern culinary techniques and is a combination of two distillations.  One distillation is at low temperature using a Rotaval, during which the fresh, not dried, botanicals macerate for between 4 and 10 days and this is blended with a traditional copper distillation of juniper. 

The low temperature distillation is represented by the beautiful frosted bottle which was designed by Jokin Arregi and the graduation in the frosting leads to clear at the bottom - showcasing the purity of the gin. The cap is oversized and screws off and the bottle is tall, making sure it stands proud in the best bars in the city and around the world.  The gin is packed with lemon, citron and laurel leaves from Spain, kaffir lime from Thailand, smoky Black Cardamom from India and coriander seeds from Egypt. One would think this is a world tour in itself, so it's quite a good one to feature near the end of my virtual journey!

For my cocktail I've combined the city's growing cocktail culture with it's history with wine and vermouth and have served up a Martinez.

Recipe:  

50ml Ginraw

25ml Starlino Vermouth

10ml Maraschino liqueur

3 dashes angostura

WHAT CAME FIRST?

Whilst trying to find a bit more background about the founders of Nordés Gin I came across an article in ThirstMag which discussed whether gin was first made from grapes or grains.  I hadn't really thought about it and just assumed grain, but having been round my international collection, I've definitely identified many different base spirits. I concluded it's probably more about location or what's readily available and we know gin started out as jenever - created by the Dutch,  However, there is a lot lost in translation, given recipes date back to 1495 and talk about brandy, wine and beer, but mash (the fermented grains left over from making beer and whisky) is sometimes referred to as malt wine.  So make your own conclusions to gin's chicken or egg question!

As to how Nordés started, it's a familiar story - food (octopus apparently!), friends and dreams of creating something that captured the essence of where they lived - Galicia.  These three friends were:

- Renowned sommelier Xoan Torres Cannas (who won the Nariz de Oro  (Golden Nose) award in 2004).  The Cannas brothers are well known in the area with Xosé Torres Cannas being famous for his Galician cuisine and owning Michelin star restaurant, Pepe Vieira. 

- Winemaker and entrepreneur Juan Luis Mendez Rojo, who is the CEO of Vinigalicia, which has a turnover of over 21 million euros.  He was born into winemaking, with his grandparents owning a small inn and grandfather selling wine.  His father and uncle joined the business and they established a wine consortium and started acquiring wineries into their portfolio.  He proudly made his first acquisition at the age of 25 at 5am for 5m pesetas - who knows how much wine was drunk before the deal was struck! From what I've read, if he was not so focussed on the business, he would be quite a catch - good looking, single, no kids!

-  Master distiller Joseph Alvela.  The distillery is located in San Pedro de Sarandón, by the river Ulla in Galicia, the north western region of Spain close to the Atlantic Ocean, hence their name Atlantic Galician Spirits.

They use a base spirit distilled from Galician albariño grapes and botanicals sourced locally as well as internationally.  Sage, laurel, verbena, eucalyptus, peppermint and glasswort seaweed which grow wild in Galicia are combined with juniper, ginger, cardamom, hibiscus flower and black tea.  These are macerated and slowly distilled, resulting in an aromatic and slightly floral gin.

The bottle is inspired by traditional Sargadelos ceramics and produced for them in Galacia.  The map of the world honours the seafaring history of Galicia and there is a placemarker for Galicia.  Nordés of course takes its name from the north wind which comes from the Atlantic and brings  with it good weather and good moods.  They also produce Galician Vodka, using a base of native potatoes. 

Since 2015 they are owned by the Osborne Group, vintners with over 250 years of winemaking experience and multiple acquisitions of spirits companies. It wasn't something they planned to do, but they were up against some big names in spirits and retailers in Madrid and Barcelona refused to stock Nordes without a cash incentive of as much as 6000 euros.  The only way to succeed and become number one at a national level, was to be able to play with the same cards and now success is theirs to claim.

Mula Gallega (Recipe from Nordés website)

50 ml Nordés gin infused with sage and pepper

25 ml lime juice

1.5 ml simple syrup

Ginger beer to top

Garnish with a sprig of sage.

THE SPIRIT OF DREAMS AND LEGENDS

I've absolutely loved this virtual tour and I cannot think of a better place to make my last stop before being back in the UK for #worldginday  I hope you will all forgive me for using snippets from previous posts, but I will still tell Eleanor's story at some point in a dedicated blog, as .....well, I write too much for Instagram!  I believe it won't be long before you can all get a bottle of Melifera in the UK, but until then, grab a G&T and dream with me of the world eventually returning to normal and being able to getaway to visit beautiful places, such as where this gin is born.

Off the shores of the Côte d'Argent a fortress island sits proud of the Atlantic Ocean. An island of legends, with beautiful white sand beaches, herbaceous marshes and untamed pine forests where nature reigns.

Scattered around the sun-kissed island are small villages, with old world charm, but for a bit of tranquillity, head to the sandy dunes, where bright yellow immortelle and grasses scent the air. Here you can sit and reflect, whilst watching the gentle waves rhythmically wash the shore and taste the salty, sweet air on your lips.

Once populated with wild beasts and game and the playground of royalty, this island gave birth to an heiress whose wealth, power and beauty made her one of the most eligible brides in Europe during the Middle Ages. Like the immortelle flower, the history and legends around her do not fade.

Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine, Queen of France and Queen of England.

The spirit of Eleanor lives on and Christophe and his wife Cécile have handcrafted a beautiful organic gin, presented in a stunning bottle, which is not only a tribute to Eleanor (Alienor), but also to the island of Oléron and of course, the immortelle flower.

For them, creating a gin was all about nostalgia - capturing childhood memories of days spent on sandy beaches and returning home with sun-kissed faces, damp hair and salty skin. It's about appreciating nature at its finest whilst watching the sun set over the sea as you curl your toes in the warm sand and fill your lungs with the sweet scent of the air surrounding you.