Reid & Reid Barrel Aged Gin

Reid + Reid Barrel AgedBarrel-aged ginGin rested for a while in wooden casks. It picks up a golden colour and notes of vanilla, spice or the wine that filled the cask before.GlossarySee Barrel-aged gin gins Gin brings together two great aspects of the Wairarapa: native bush and pinot noir. Brothers Stew and Chris Reid take their Native Gin, made with kawakawa, mānuka and horopito, and age it for three months in French oak barrels that previously held Martinborough pinot noir. It is bottled at 42% ABV, and the distillers say it challenges your perception of what gin can be. The oak never hides the native plants.

Woody · Spicy · Floral · Fruity

Red currants, juniperJuniperThe one compulsory botanical: gin must taste predominantly of juniper. Its "berry" is really a small conifer cone, resinous and peppery.Glossary and savoury oak lead the nose. On the palate, light peppery and floral spice develops, the native plants still clearly present, before a sweet red-fruit finish that recalls the wine once held in the casks. Three months is long enough for the oak to round the gin and add a soft, savoury depth, but short enough to keep the kawakawa and horopito vivid. The texture is smoother than that of the unaged Native. The result sits between a 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 and an aged spirit, with fruit, spice and wood in balance. Neat, a drop of water opens the red fruit.

Martinborough is the Wairarapa's best-known wine village, famous for its pinot noir, so the barrels tie the gin to its home region. Its red fruit and oak suit stirred drinks: a MartinezMartinezThe presumed ancestor of the Martini: gin (often Old Tom), sweet vermouth, maraschino and bitters, stirred over ice and served straight up.Glossary, a gin Old Fashioned or a NegroniNegroniAn Italian cocktail of equal parts gin, sweet vermouth and red bitter (Campari), served over ice with orange peel. Born in Florence in 1919.Glossary, where the pinot noir notes meet the sweet vermouthVermouthAn aromatised, fortified wine flavoured with herbs and barks; its name comes from the German Wermut, wormwood. Dry vermouth goes into a Martini, sweet red into a Negroni.Glossary. A small piece of dark chocolate or a hard cheese makes a fine companion when sipping it. Over one large cube, the oak and fruit open slowly.

For the G&T, pour 45 ml of Barrel Aged Gin over firm ice and add 100 ml of Fever-Tree Mediterranean Tonic Water. Place a red currant cluster and an orange twist in the glass, and serve the same garnishes beside it. The currants echo the tasting notes, and the orange brightens the oak.