Blackwater Distillery Tasters Club 2021/2 Up And Running

The Blackwater Distillery Tasters Club 2021/2

The Blackwater Distillery Tasters Club for 2021/2 is up and running, the latest double featuring a Star Anise Gin and an intriguing Pear-itif Liqueur. 

When you sign up you get two unique spirits delivered by courier every two months. “Perfect for a great night in,” says Blackwater founder Peter Mulryan. And the night gets even better if you tune in to their night of fun (every 2 months to coincide with your delivery) on Facebook where you’ll get all the tips and ideas and demos you need to make the best of your two spirits.

And those spirits are not repeated during your 12 months membership. We got some terrific doubles in 2020/1. Some of the gins featured included Windfall Spiced, Jaffa Cake (very popular), Christmas Pudding and Blood Orange. 

I was very taken with the other spirits, including the Raspberry and Rosehip Vodka, the Cranberry Vodka Liqueur, and Love Potion #5 (created by @miss_susanboyle). The first class blackcurrants from Des Jeffares featured in two of the drinks, two really excellent bottles, the Wexford Cassis and the Wexford Blackcurrant Gin. All the bottles are 20cl.

Blackwater's Peter Mulryan

So this October’s other spirit is the Pear-itif Liqueur. On the launch night, Peter introduced recent recruit Sylvia from Italy who is responsible for this beauty.  She was back in Italy on holidays and still thinking about the job! “I was looking to use an autumnal fruit and then I saw a pear based Grappa and that was the initial inspiration.” Team-work and hard work followed in the distillery before Sylvia and Blackwater came up with Pear-itif which is 20% abv.

When your packet comes, you also get information cards, one giving a “Perfect Serve”, the other giving details of a cocktail, in this case entitled Perfect Apear-itif, and you’ll see a demo, by John Coleman, as well. The pear drink has a nose of stewed fruit, pear drops on the spicy and fresh palate and a long and luxurious finish.

The Star Anise Gin, at the usual abv of 40%, comes with a little pack of Star Anise, of course, to garnish your cocktail which is called Anise-tini, again demonstrated on the Facebook event. The perfect serve for this gin is is to try it with a splash of organic apple juice topped with soda over ice. And you are advised that this is a mixing gin, strong, forward and spicy - drink it long with tons of ice and tonic, garnished with pink grapefruit. By the way you can check all this out on Facebook here.

Cocktail demo

Peter says the club is “the perfect treat for the bold and adventurous among us who love gin and trying out other exciting spirits from our micro-distillery in rural Ireland”. The December box is next and it is a Christmas themed box that will be ready very soon.

You can join the exclusive club here today. There are three options: 12 months (€199), 6 months (€110) and a once off for €39.99. Over to you! 

Blood and Passion by the Blackwater. Bittersweet Taste of Love in the Club

Blood and Passion by the Blackwater

Bittersweet Taste of Love in the Club

Blood and Passion were all the fashion in Ballyduff, the hottest spot north of Fungarvan. 

But fear not, on Valentine’s night, the Blackwater Distillery team were chatting, via Facebook, about nothing more "bloody" than the ingredients in their Tasters Club Valentine’s Day offerings: Blood Orange Gin and Love Potion No. 5.

When it comes to passionate speakers on drink, then you’d be hard pushed to beat Susan Boyle, the creator of the Love Potion. On hearing the invite from Blackwater’s Peter Mulryan, another passionate drinks enthusiast, there was no hesitation, no delay: “I’m on board!”

And soon her thoughts began to take shape, pomegranate prominent in the melange. “..the proliferation of the seeds..the association with fertility.. and it’s also in season. I like to think that maybe Adam and Eve were tempted by pomegranate rather than the apple.”

And so the new spirit (25% abv) was based on pomegranate and, as Susan “was looking for balance”, Cardamon and Orange also came into the equation. As a result, Peter pointed out that there is a slight sediment in the bottle and it will haze when chilled.

At the finish, you’ll note a “final bite of gentian”. “Love,” affirmed Peter, “is bittersweet!” The bite here is close to what you’d get from an Italian Amaro. Susan: “Bitterness is an acquired taste, eg dark chocolate, coffee, but a brilliant taste.” As usual, Blackwater had cocktails in mind but Susan says the spirit is terrific when topped with pink Champagne or crémant. “It ticks all the boxes,” she enthused. “A multi-layered drink, ..all enveloping… romantic..and red-coloured. I had so much fun coming up with this idea, I hope the love potion works its magic for everyone who tries it.”

John Coleman, the resident cocktail creator here, called this one The Look of Love. But why did he used condensed milk with the Love Potion? He had started with cream but found that it stifled the citrus while the milk allowed it through. Honey and chocolate at the finish added to the smoothness.

Blood in the Bronx was John’s riff on the classic Bronx cocktail and, according to Peter (right) and lots of Facebook watchers, “perfectly showcases our Blood Orange Gin”. Very refreshing and quickly put together with, like all Blackwater cocktails, no extra alcohol involved (the gin itself is 40%). There is sweetness from the maple syrup and that is countered by the lemon juice (if you want it sweeter, tone back the lemon).

The Blood Orange Gin itself, designed by Kieran Curtin, started with "a bit of drama" before he decided to pare the whole thing back, leaving “obscene quantities of blood orange..in the dry form.. take the spotlight. “A post distillation infusion of blood orange slices with elderflower gives a bare hint of colour and a vibrant fresh orange palate.”

Not enough orange for some. One Facebook follower: Really enjoyed the blood orange gin with fresh orange juice and a touch of lemon juice .. I froze ice cubes with slivers of oranges in it . So they froze and look beautiful !

Blackwater’s “official” perfect serve is: Plenty of ice, a crisp tonic water and a wedge of blood orange.

#BlackwaterTasters #drinkresponsibly

Blackwater's Tasters Club Keeps On Giving

Blackwater's Tasters Club Keeps On Giving.

The Christmas Box from the Blackwater Distillery’s Tasters Club was launched, with not a little fanfare, at the Ballyduff distillery last Wednesday evening. Seasonal gins and unique spirits crafted exclusively for the members are delivered on  bimonthly basis and the latest offering consisted of a Christmas Pudding Gin and a Cranberry Vodka Liqueur. By the way, there a few boxes still available but you need to move quickly as the cut off for the Republic of Ireland is midnight on Sunday next the 29th! Details here. 

Following the musical intro by the resident distillery band, Peter Mulryan introduced the two new products. “That Christmas pudding gin, I’ve wanted to make that happen for a long time. I also enjoyed bringing the Cranberry Vodka to fruition. Now I enjoy it straight from the freezer which brings out the sour taste of the cranberry. We stop-sweetened it, not too sweet, still a slightly bitter bite. We made it from frozen berries macerated in vodka. It is not fully filtered so you see a little haze, all normal. And it is fab in cocktail.”

Cocktail ace John Coleman was again on hand to take us through his creation, the Festive Fizz (left). And he came up with a very impressive finish indeed. Prosecco or elderflower tonic or soda water are recommended as top-ups but John's favourite is Cava and then he demoed how to make an ice nest that sits on top, very cool.

Blackwater’s Caroline Senior then introduced is to local artist Valerie Lee who made the gift labels the came with the current box. Based in Lismore, she makes all kinds of cards, earrings, even figures out of clothes pegs. Find her on Insta at GalleryValerieLismore.

Now it was time for the pudding gin and a chat with its creator Kieran Curtin. That particular journey had its origins when Kieran steeped some damsons in poitin. It was “interesting, a snapps like spirit.” And he began thinking of a Christmas pudding gin. Quite a few more experiments advanced the project until they had it more or less where they wanted it. Still lacking something though, until he took up a suggestion to finish it in Cognac and Port casks. That did the trick. “I love it,’ said Kieran who sometimes enhances it with a little drop of brandy and he did mean little!

Now it was time for John Coleman to introduce the cocktail (above right) for this unusual gin, called Blas na Nollag. It took quite a bit of thought, he admitted. “I played around with a lot of ideas and settled on making a hot one. No shaker required here.” But you will need to add coffee to the mix and then finish it off with a layer of lightly whipped cream which John did to perfection! See John in action and much more from the December unveiling here.

So well done again to the Blackwater team and I’m looking forward to seeing what they’ll come up with for the Valentine’s Day box. In the meantime, if you want one of those few remaining Christmas boxes, remember the cut off point is midnight on Sunday.

Apple and Blackcurrant in Blackwater’s Taster Club October Box.

 Apple and Blackcurrant in Blackwater’s October Box. Gin and Cassis.

The Blackwater Tasters Club Box for October 2020 contained the two drinks, as usual, plus a few other pertinent bits and pieces. The two new, exclusive to the club, drinks were a Blackwater Windfall Spiced Gin 40% and a Blackwater Waterford Cassis 25%.

Blackwater’s Peter Mulryan hosted a Facebook chat about the box last week and declared the Windfall Gin “a banger”, saying it was created by their gin expert Kieran Curtin who joined the talk from a deserted Maureen’s Bar in Cork.

Kieran admitted to being very happy with it. “It was an idea I had a long time back but I could never get the apples to come across. Then the idea came again for this box and, after a lot of experimenting, we had a breakthrough. Before we used to cut the 70/80% still spirit with water but now we decided to cut it with apple juice and we were on our way. Then, we added apple brandy from a cask in the distillery and that tied it all together!”

Kieran Curtin

Peter said it’s excellent, “great balance, well done Kieran”. Kieran confirmed they went for the usual apples spices, “clove, cinnamon, all spice” and both agreed this was not one to be scaled up. It is not filtered, just settled naturally. “If you see some haze, it's completely natural.” Blackwater’s mixologist John Coleman conjured up a Spiced Collins as the cocktail for this one: “Very easy, great before a meal”.

Next up was Des Jeffares as it is his Wexford blackcurrants that are used in the Waterford Cassis, “..very good blackcurrants” according to Peter. “How long have you been growing them?” he asked. Des explained that the business had been started by an uncle of his father. His father carried it on as did Des who, 6 or 7 years ago, decided to stop being just a supplier and go into juice side of it for himself.

John Wilcox

John Wilcox is the Head Distiller at Blackwater and he developed the new cassis. He rose to the challenge despite not knowing much at all about the fruit. “But I did have friend in Italy who had introduced me to currants via a book that he wrote. You could say this is an Italian, Irish, French hybrid!"

Des’s knowhow was crucial too. “You need to wait for fresh berries. When they are good and ripe, you get a more powerful colour and good sugar, as good as possible for you guys.”

Wilcox: “It is important to stay true to the fruit, I didn't realise currants could be so tart. I wanted to present a true cassis and in a style that people would be comfortable with. A lot of balancing went on but I think we did hit the perfect spot.”

John Coleman

And he may have had, judging by the reaction. Peter: “This is a limited edition for the club. But the way things are going, we might expand it. By the way, this is nice in a shot-glass straight from the freezer.” John Coleman’s cocktail here, Velvet Rain, looks very well indeed, very tempting and again “great after a meal”.

Thinking of going for the December box? You'll need to move quickly - details here

Home Testing

Blackwater Windfall Spiced Gin 40%

Tried this with Elderflower Tonic (Fever-tree) as indicated. Thought, with first sip, that there may just be too much of the orchard here but soon began to appreciate the balance that Kieran and company had worked hard to achieve. Worth persevering with, though you may never get this exact same blend again. Pretty experimental, pretty much a one-off, pretty damn good.

Blackwater Waterford Cassis 25%.

Took Peter’s tip here. Poured a shot straight from the freezer over ice. It is certainly flavoursome and refreshing and you get a sense of how it would be perfect in either a simple Kir or a Kir Royale.

Blackwater Jaffa Cake Gin 42%

This was one of the two in the August box but it’s only now that I had a chance to sample it.  Used a plain Schweppes tonic. No doubt there's a touch of the Jaffa cake here, in both aroma and flavour. Just not sure there’s enough distinctiveness to carry it beyond this first edition though.

Blackwater Boyle’s Gin 40%, Aldi exclusive

Small Batch Irish Botanical Gin. London Dry Gin style. Distilled and bottled by Blackwater, using local blackcurrants, elderflowers and apples. They combine these botanicals (and more besides) in pure Irish spirit, “then distil everything in our traditional copper pot still”. Having noted those “local” botanicals, I made a little “cocktail” here:

Boyle’s 50ml;

Waterford Cassis 10ml;

Elderflower tonic 150ml approx.

Very happy with the result - not too sure it deserves the cocktail title though. But the wee amount of cassis worked a treat, a terrific little sipper, a happy harmony reigned. 

By the way, Robert Boyle was an alchemist and one of the fathers of modern chemistry and lived in West Waterford.