BOTANICALS

We’ve hand-selected 12 different botanicals – carefully sourced from both distant and exotic locations around the world – to craft a spirit that’s bursting with Cornish Sunshine.

OUR PROCESS

As a fully independent, family-run business, we at Southwestern Distillery like to celebrate the fact that we do things a little bit differently.

At the heart of our distilling process lie Tarquin’s three 250 liter hand-beaten copper pot-stills.

TAMARA, SENARA & TRESSA

To this day, these stills continue to be fired by direct naked flame and are sealed at the joints with bread dough. These distilling techniques are about as old-school as you can find.

Alongside these original copper pot-stills proudly sits the newest addition to the distillery, FERARRA – a state of the art, one-of-a-kind 500 liter copper still. Championing a combination of the progressively modern and the authentically traditional Tarquin uses these four stills collectively to create his internationally award-winning spirits.

When it’s time to create our flagship Tarquin’s Cornish Dry Gin, 11 of the botanicals are added to our stills (with the exception of the violets) and left to macerate overnight in a wheat based neutral grain spirit.

In the morning Tarquin’s simply add the missing violets, to complete the botanical recipe, and then it’s time to fire up the stills.

As the stills heat up Tarquin is constantly monitoring the process, nosing, and tasting as the distilled spirit as it comes off the still at different temperatures. We collect only the purest ‘heart of the distillation’ (achieved when the still has reached the magic temperature of 78’c), collecting and setting aside the ‘heads’ and ‘tails’ cuts (the first and last parts of the distillation) that don’t make the most selective taste and texture grade.

Post distillation, this ‘hearts cut’ (around 76% abv neat Gin) is cut with de-mineralized Cornish spring water to bring it down to the desired 42% abv. Nothing else is added in true London Dry Gin style.

Every single bottle is then individually hand-filled, hand-labelled, dipped into a slow-cooker filled with paraffin wax, stamped with our Puffin logo, given batch tasting notes and then individually hand-signed.

We truly believe in the value of maximizing the human-touch at every stage of the process.

NO SHORT-CUTS ~ NO OUT-SOURCING ~ NO COMPROMISE

When Tarquin puts “Handcrafted in Cornwall” on every bottle, he really does mean it.

TASTE: Fresh piney juniper on the front of the leading to zesty lemon sherbet notes from the coriander, vibrant orange blossom from the fresh peels, rounded natural sweetness from the liquorice and an oily creaminess from the almonds.

NOSE: Like stumbling across a citrus grove in the middle of a pine forest. Crisp and vibrant. Touch of warm eastern spice from the cardamom and cinnamon. Floral notes from the handpicked violets and orris root.

FINISH: Beautifully smooth and bright. Touch of sherbety sweetness while remaining classically dry and juniper lead. Big hit of oily fresh citrus, giving it a full mouthfeel leading on to some gentle spice warmth. Lingering floral complexity at the end.

Spirit Type: Imported Gin

WEB: https://www.tarquinsgin.com/