Review

Brennan & Brown Gin
(with a hint of ginger)

Brennan & Brown Ltd, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England, UK.

Brennan & Brown.

Enthusiast Rich Bamber sought but was unable to find a Gin containing ginger, flavored to his liking. He discovered Gordon’s had made a ginger infused Gin but had stopped producing it around a century ago and so in 2010 he decided to try and make his own. This is not for the faint hearted and it took over two years including training and licensing, not to mention a year of “hard” research to create the recipe (with the help of a rotary vacuum still at Master of Malt in Kent) and setting up the business entity of Brennan & Brown Ltd with his partner Jo Hazlett.

The Brennan & Brown Gin (with a hint of ginger) was launched in the fall of 2013.

The base spirit is made by an undisclosed third party in Birmingham, probably Langley Distillery. This base spirit is used with fresh local botanicals (wherever possible) and distilled with a rotary vacuum evaporator by Brennan & Brown. The resultant Gin is diluted with Wenlock Spring Water from Shropshire – a naturally filtered water from 400 million year old limestone, with a unique mineral composition and slightly sweet taste. Currently they are producing up to 150 bottles per day but have capacity to produce around 250 bottles per day.

The Gin is presented in a tall clear bottle with rounded shoulders. It has a large rectangular label colored dark blue with gold trim. At the top is their clock face logo and name in white with black outlining.

London Dry Gin.

43% (86 Proof).

$$$$$. Not available in the USA but can be purchased online from Master of Malt in the UK, just be prepared to add an additional 40% for shipping outside of the UK. 

Undisclosed but uses 9 botanicals including: ginger and juniper berries.

With the tagline “There’s always time for Gin” Rich Bamber named the company using the maiden names of his grandmothers, who we understand both enjoyed a tipple from time to time.

Unfortunately we have yet to try this Gin and because it has a relatively rare ginger flavor profile we are keen to see what it is like. We understand from Brennan & Brown it leads with juniper while supported by citrus (lemon and orange) – a typical classic London Dry style – and finishes with a warming hint of ginger (plus we have heard it has cinnamon notes too). They recommend it in a Gin & Tonic with a slice of pink grapefruit as garnish and we suspect (given these descriptions) it may well pair with spicy food to good effect.

Unknown.