West country farmhouse brewery team up with Circumstance Distillery to produce Wild Flower Gin, made with wild ale & foraged herbs to use up beer stuck in kegs during national lockdown. Now available at select craft beer bottle shops and Yonder’s webstore.
With the nation’s pubs closed and countless kegs sat in the warehouse, Yonder faced a stark choice – tip their entire keg stock down the drain or find something new and unique to do with it. Determined to let nothing go to waste founders Stu Winstone and Jasper Tupman decided to produce their first ever gin.
They started by blending the beers together and fermenting it dry with their wild house yeast cultures. The beer was then sent to Circumstance Distillery, with a huge bag of foraged herbs taped to the side to distill it with.
In the bag was Chamomile collected from behind the brewery, honeysuckle from Stu’s parents garden and sumac from their neighbours garden (ssssh!) alongside water mint flowers from the Somerset Levels, fennel from the Mendip Hills, and Yarrow from the fields behind my house.
The result is Wild Flower Gin, a delicious and richly aromatic distillation. Juniper acts as a fantastic base for the herbaceous, menthol aromas of the wild botanicals, and the lingering sweetness and acidity from the wild ale base is unlike anything else on the market.
Stu Winstone says: “ Running a brewery was tough going even before the global pandemic, but when the UK hit full lockdown in March 2020 we lost 80% of our trade. A lot has to changed but we refuse to compromise on our love of local and foraged flavours – hopefully this gin and its story proves that. It helps that it’s absolutely delicious! ”
Just 100 bottles were made and there are no plans (as yet) to make more batches, but bottles are still available from select craft beer bottle shops and Yonder’s webstore. For more information email stuart@brewyonder.co.uk. If you can track down a bottle, Stu has put together his favourite serving suggestions.
Raspberry Something Something
The first thing we tried was a blend with our showstopper, Raspberry Gose. It took a few attempts to nail this because with any good cocktail you need the right blend of sweet, sour and booze. Obviously, taste is also subjective so feel free to tweak this to suit you, but we are pretty confident that this blend of flavours is much more than the sum of its parts.
Ingredients:
● 60ml Wildflower Gin
● 30ml Elderflower Liqueur
● 1 can of Raspberry Gose
● Squeeze of lemon (to taste)
Method:
● Add the Wildflower Gin and Elderflower liqueur to a tall glass (pre-chilled in the
freezer is always a good bet, but adding ice is also an option)
● Top up with a can of Raspberry Gose (you should be able to fit most of it in there, so just neck the rest whilst no one is looking)
● Stir to mix and add a squeeze of lemon juice to balance the acidity (1 tbsp worked well for me)
● Drink and imagine that you’re skipping through a meadow in mid-summer
Gin & Tonic (without a twist)
This is one of those recipes that assumes you’ve got something in the cupboard or fridge, that probably isn’t actually that common. Sorry about that. It is however pretty easy to buy and prepare ahead of time.
Every year we always end up with more rhubarb than we know what to do with, so inevitably some ends up in the freezer. This year I was organised enough to cut it into chunks ahead of time, and luckily they were about the size of ice cubes… The fruity acidity of rhubarb is so unique. The compound is oxalic acid and is the same thing that gives Sorrel leaves that distinctive apple-skin-tang. This tang is perfect for replacing citrus fruits in your G&T and the best part is the juices at the end, when the rhubarb has defrosted. Delicious!
Ingredients:
● 60ml Wildflower Gin
● Frozen Rhubarb (ice cube size chunks)
● Sparkling Tonic Water (whichever brand you prefer)
● NO ICE – the rhubarb does the job!
Method:
● Put each ingredient in the glass in whatever order you want. I’m pretty sure it doesn’t matter.
● Drink
Press release from Yonder Brewing
For more information email stuart@brewyonder.co.uk