English producer York Gin has launched a limited edition Spiced Apple expression, created to offer a ‘traditional taste of Christmas’.
The gin has been made using cinnamon, cloves and ginger botanicals, as well as ‘glory of York’ ribston pippin apples.
The dry gin was inspired by mulled drinks, originally known as wassail, consumed during the festive season of centuries past.
York Gin co-founder Emma Godivala said: “This gin is so evocative of centuries of Christmases past. The cinnamon, cloves and ginger are an intrinsic part of mulled drinks, enjoyed for centuries at Christmas. Apples were traditionally part of wassail – as well as being the precursors to the modern bauble.”
York Gin Spiced Apple is bottled at 42.5% ABV, and presents spicy notes of clove and apple on the nose, with a juniper-forward flavour on the palate.
The gin is recommended served in festive cocktails, such as a Bramble, made with 35ml York Gin Spiced Apple, 20ml warm apple juice, 10ml lemon juice, a drizzle of Chambord, and garnished with a cinnamon stick.
All of the gins in the brand’s portfolio were inspired by York’s 2,000-year past and English gin’s ‘hundreds of years of legends and traditions’.
Godivala added: “York is one of the UK’s Christmassy cities – the St Nick’s Market was ranked in the top five Christmas markets in the world this year. So we love the festive season in York. And the city is packed with people enjoying the atmosphere – many of them walking around with a mulled wine or mulled gin in hand.
“The brand new flavour joins York Gin Chocolate & Orange as a second festive gin. The Terrys’s Chocolate Orange was invented in York and made here for decades. So that has a great historic story too.’
Pre-orders at yorkgin.com have opened at a discounted price of £39 (US$46.50) for a 700ml bottle. It will go on general sale from 6 December, priced at £42 (US$50).
This summer, thieves stole the majority of the brand’s stock from its distillery in the village of Nether Poppleton, York, resulting in a six-figure loss for the independent distiller.