Height of Arrows Bright - Holyrood Distillery

23 Aug

A Juniper Jamboree: The only botanical used in Holyrood Distillery’s Height of Arrows Bright is juniper!

EU regulations state that gin must have the “predominant taste” of juniper. In addition to juniper, a gin producer can use any flavouring safe for human consumption. Most will use plant-based flavourings, or botanicals, such as flowers, roots, fruits and seeds. The subjectivity of what constitutes “predominant taste” and the lack of practicable tests to enforce this has resulted in the intensity of juniper varying considerably from brand to brand.

Two styles of gin have begun to emerge, the classic juniper-forward gin and the contemporary gin. Juniper-forward gins are based on the classic botanical recipe of juniper, coriander, orange peel, angelica and orris root. Contemporary gins are moving away from this recipe allowing botanicals other than juniper to take centre stage.

When it comes to their botanical recipe, Holyrood Distillery keeps it simple and only uses juniper. Height of Arrows and Height of Arrows Bright uses fresh juniper, Height of Arrows Heavy uses roasted juniper, and Height of Arrows Funk uses fermented berries. Whilst these gins might frustrate traditionalists who favour the classic five-ingredient botanical recipe, they unarguably fall into the juniper-forward style and present an excellent opportunity to examine the distinctive aroma and flavour of the juniper berry.

Juniper berries are the seed cones of the juniper shrub. The use of the species Juniperus communis, is defined by EU regulations. A wide range of essential oils are extracted from juniper berries, primarily terpenes. Pinene contributes a piney, resinous character also present in eucalyptus and rosemary. Limonene offers citrus aromas. Geraniol adds a floral character, and sabinene and myrcene add spice and wood notes.

The distilling team also add salt and beeswax, although these ingredients play a technical role rather than contributing to aroma and flavour. The salt contributes similarly to how it does during cooking, turning up the volume of the essential oils by drawing them out from the juniper. The beeswax fixes the aromas and flavours, equalising the vapour pressures of the essential oils and increasing their stability. It has a similar effect to orris root in the classic botanical recipe.

In line with most gins, the essential oils are extracted from the juniper using the maceration method. The pot still, is filled with grain-neutral spirit. The botanicals are placed in a muslin bag and added to the still. The longer the steeping, the more essential oils are extracted. In the words of the brewers at Yorkshire Tea, "The longer the stronger"! Most distillers, including the team at Holyrood, leave their botanicals steeping overnight.

For Height of Arrows Bright, the distilling team uses the multi-shot method. They steep three times as many juniper berries than the single-shot or one-shot method uses for Height of Arrows, resulting in a more concentrated distillate. The distillate is then diluted with grain-neutral spirit and then with water to bottling strength. The multi-shot method allows the producer to make more gin without the need for additional stills, saving time and energy consumption with no detriment to quality. It also allows the producer to vary the concentration of the final gin and therefore have more control over the range of expressions they produce. Bright is only diluted to 48%, concentrating the exotic pine, earth, and spice aromas and flavours of the berries, leaving the taster with no question as to the aroma and flavour of juniper!

The bold concentration of Bright’s juniper-forward style made it an excellent gin to use in spirit-forward cocktails, and was particularly successful paired with dry Vermouth in a Martini.

Place 50 ml Height of Arrows Bright in a mixing glass with a handful of ice. Add 20 ml Dry Vermouth, I like Carpano Dry and 2 dashes of orange bitters. Stir until chilled and the ice has visibly softened. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with an olive or piece of lemon peel.