Symphonia Irish Dry Gin

Nine botanicals, nine separate distillations. At Woodlab Distillery, each botanical in Symphonia is distilled on its own, under vacuum and at low temperature, in glass rotary evaporatorsVacuum distillationLowering the pressure makes alcohol boil at around 30 to 50 °C instead of 78 °C, so delicate aromas are not cooked and stay fresher.Glossary, and each result becomes a separate note. The notes are then composed into the finished gin, which is where the name comes from.

Citrus · Dry · Floral · Herbal

The method belongs to its founder. Ric Dyer is an organic chemist, and the rotary evaporator is a laboratory instrument before it is a still: it lowers the boiling point so that delicate aromas can be captured without heat damage. Woodlab was established in 2018 on the border of County Tyrone and County Armagh, in Northern Ireland, and Symphonia is built on a barley base and bottled at 40%. The recipe uses juniper, coriander as both seed and leaf, lemon, rosemary, ginger, dandelion, basil and rose petals. Basil and dandelion are the unusual pair, one sweetly herbal and peppery, the other green and slightly bitter, while rose petals add a soft floral top.

Distilling each ingredient separately means the proportions are decided at the blending stage rather than in a single charge, which is why the gin reads so cleanly: every note can be tuned on its own. The result was named Irish Gin of the Year 2019 and Champion of Champions, Best Gin in Ireland, at the Irish Gin Awards. It is also sold as Symphonia No.1 Dry GinDry ginGin with no perceptible sweetness: in the European Union, the word "dry" allows at most 0.1 g of sugar per litre.GlossarySee Dry gin gins, the first of a range that continues with an Armagh Bramley Apple gin and a Summer Fruit Cup.

An Indian tonicIndian tonicThe classic tonic: sparkling water, bitter quinine and sugar. The name recalls colonial India, where quinine warded off malaria.Glossary lets the separate notes stay audible. Pour 4 cl over firm ice, top with 10 cl of chilled tonic, and garnish with a strip of lemon peel and a rosemary sprig, both echoing botanicals of the recipe. Twist the lemon peel over the drink first; the basil and the rose show best when the citrus oil is fresh.