North Hop
Blog

New-to-market Gin debuts at North Hop Glasgow

Tuesday 13th June 2017

A long time friend of North Hop, 10 Dollar Shake will be at North Hop Glasgow on 16 and 17 June! Whilst the cocktails and ginacoloda’s from the team are always incredibly popular, this time round we are even more excited as they are bringing new-to-market gin, Jindea Single Estate Tea Gin to the Cocktail Lounge in SWG3. (P.S limited tickets still available here http://tickets-scotland.com/nor14)

The West Bengal Punch, made using Jindea has been going down a treat at the recent launches at Bramble, Edinburgh and London Cocktail Club, Goodge Street, London. This Jindea Gin cocktail has also been added to the new Tippling House summer cocktail menu and will make an appearance at North Hop Glasgow.

Some of the North Hop crew met with one of the makers of Jindea, Adrian Gomes, to find out a bit more about the gin, it’s recommended perfect serve and where we can buy a bottle...

Give us some background on how Jindea Single Estate Tea Gin came to life?
Jindea Single Estate Tea Gin is a collaboration between three industry professionals whose collective CV encompass all facets of the drinks business from bartender and bar operator to spirits merchant and brand ambassador.  

Two of the collective, Matthew Dakers and Adrian Gomes, have strong ties to India (Matthew's great-grandfather serving as a Captain in the Indian Army and Adrian's father growing up in Goa where the family worked the Indian railways; including the renowned narrow-gauge 'toy trains' that continue to serve the hill stations). Jack Rackham, who completes the collective, works at Emporia Brands which is a drinks importer and spirit merchant business that has been in the family for three generations.

Talk us through the different botanicals and the distilling process?

Jindea Single Estate Tea Gin is produced in a traditional alembic copper pot still to a classic London Dry recipe containing 10 botanicals. These are: juniper, first flush Darjeeling tea, lemon, grapefruit, coriander, ginger, fennel, cardamom, cinnamon and angelica.  

The botanicals are macerated in a neutral grain-based alcohol for 3 – 5 days before undergoing a single pot still distillation, resulting in a gin distillate of around 71% ABV. From this distillate, we add alcohol and water to obtain Jindea Single Estate Tea Gin at 40% ABV.

Where does the “tea” element fit into the production process?
Ajit Madan, co-founder of Camellia’s Tea House in London and the UK's first certified ITEI Master Tea Sommelier, introduced the brand owners to ‘Exotic Thunder’; a first flush Darjeeling tea from Goomtee Estate, a single estate tea plantation in the serene Kurseong Valley long-considered the 'grand cru' of Darjeeling! The high altitude and artisanal cultivation yields arguably one of the finest black teas in the world.

Darjeeling Tea is known for its gentle aromatic and floral qualities, imparting aromas of muscatel grape and stone fruits. Known as the 'Champagne of Teas', the picturesque artisan tea gardens of Darjeeling, situated at the foot of the Himalayas produce less than 1% of India's total tea production. Mostly from single estates and often organic and hand-plucked.  Darjeeling is a black tea and produces four harvests throughout the year, known as 'flushes'.  The first flush is the Spring picking (March/April) which produces the gentlest of black teas, this and the second flush are the most desirable.

Where can we buy Jindea and what’s the perfect serve?

Jindea Single Estate Tea Gin is available from all Harvey Nichols stores, plus online retailers Master of Malt, Whisky Exchange and The Drink Shop. Alternatively, ask your local independent bottle shop to order it in for you.

The perfect serve is with lemon and Fever Tree Indian tonic. However if you really want the tea to shine, we recommend no garnish, no tarnish!

Look forward to meeting you at the Cocktail Lounge with a Jindea Gin and Tonic!

#northhopgla