I love my trips to Cornwall and to the nirvana of gin drinkers, the Constantine Stores, the headquarters of Drinkfinder UK. I could spend hours, and hundreds of pounds, browsing their shelves packed with tempting and unusual gins. When in Cornwall I like to come away with some gins spawned by the ginaissance that are distinctive to the county and on my last trip, in October 2020, I picked up a bottle of Smuggled From Cornwall Gin (SFC), intrigued by the prospect of sampling a drink which was the product of a collaboration between Cornwall’s oldest cider maker, Haye Farm, and the county’s first plough-to-bottle distillery, Colwith Farm Distillery.

Both are to be found either side of the Fowey River, Haye on the northern bank by Penpol Creek and Colwith on the southern. There are over fifty varieties of apple grown at Haye Farm, some unique to the farm, and they are handpicked and straw-pressed and then allowed to ferment naturally in whisky, rum and port barrels, techniques unchanged since brewing started there in the 13^th century. The resultant Haye Farm Cider is of the very highest quality and it is this which is used to distil into the SFC gin.  

The gin is distilled across the river at Colwith Farm Distilley, part of Colwith Farm which has been in the hands of the Dustow family since Stafford moved there in 1904. It is from the farm that the crops are grown which are then transformed by Steve and Sophie into their range of premium spirits, vodka, rum and, of course, gin. They produce two gins, Fowey River Gin which is their original gin and is cider apple distilled, and SFC with production starting in 2016.

The bottle is dumpy and bell shaped. made from clear glass with a white ribbon-like label which goes around the middle of the bottle about two-thirds of its circumference. The label uses a distinctive black font and displays a map of Cornwall, the legend “Cornish Gin”, gin in a turquoise shade, and the flag of Cornwall, the top right quadrant slightly askew as if it has sniffed the bottle, and then the name of the gin. The labelling on the right-hand side of the bottle tells me in turquoise print that it is “a true distilled gin which draws upon its unique history, heritage and provenance” and, in black, tells me that its ABV is a very acceptable 42%. On the left-hand side as well as “800 years of history distilled into every bottle” it informs me that their “master distiller uses botanicals found on both Haye and Colwith farms to create a classic juniper-led Cornish dry gin with hints of citrus and spice”.

The description is not wrong. On removing the synthetic stopper, the aroma that greeted me was one of intense juniper with hints of citrus and spice. In the glass the clear spirit revealed that it was firmly and proudly juniper-led, although it did allow some other flavours, particularly apple, a dash of lemon and a hint of spice to make an appearance. The aftertaste was peppery and spicy.

 I found it to be a well-balanced, crisp drink and the apple, which I was concerned would overwhelm the taste, was, if anything, quite subdued and undercooked, allowing the juniper to take centre stage. Frustratingly, the distillers seem to be coy about revealing precisely what botanicals have gone into the mix, but whatever they are, if you like a traditional dry gin style with a little bit of a twist, you will not be disappointed. I’m glad I smuggled this gin over the Tamar river.     

Until the next time, cheers!