It is always brightens up my day and lightens my wallet when the buyers at Waitrose extend the range of gins spawned by the ginaissance that they stock, a recent addition to which is Tappers Brightside Coastal London Dry Gin. Tappers is a proudly independent and unashamedly artisanal distillery based in West Kirby on the Wirral. Founded in 2016 by Steve Tapril, its first gin was Darkside which is the name given by Liverpudlians to the area across the Mersey that is the Wirral. Brightside is, presumably, the Liverpool side.

Darkside was distilled using the cold compound method, in which the selected botanicals are steeped in a neutral spirit, in this instance from grain, to infuse the flavours without distillation. The botanicals are then filtered out leaving a resultant spirit that is packed with flavour and retaining the colouring from the botanicals. Launched in 2020 Brightside uses the same botanicals and neutral spirit as Darkside but they are distilled by a process of boiling and condensation in a small copper still.

It is a bit like putting the same music out in different formats and Tappers are the first distillery to do so, a curious first and one for the purists to digest. Not having sampled Darkside, I am not in a position to compare and contract the resultant gins from the two methods, but Brightside has no trace of any colouring from the botanicals and is crisp and sharp, perhaps the more clinical CD to the earthier, more “natural” vinyl sound of Darkside.

As well as playing with production techniques, Tappers make a point of using local botanicals, foraged from the shoreline and their gins are certified by the Vegan Society. Eight botanicals are used in the mix – juniper, coriander, angelica root, orris root, red clover, chickweed, black cardamom and sea beet, which is found around the coast line in mudflats, between rocks, and among sand dunes. Its leaves have a spinach-like taste while the roots are sweeter, akin to a sweet potato.

Tappers position themselves as archetypal small-time distillers, producing between forty and a hundred bottles per batch. Each one is filled, labelled, sealed with a black wax, and numbered by hand. My bottle came from Batch 2021/11 and is bottle 355, a vintage batch, I’m sure.

The bottle is attractive, dumpy rectangular with rounded corners, leading up to a broad shoulder, a short neck which has a wide lip, so favoured these days, and an artificial stopper. The labelling has a distinctive old-fashioned feel about it, enhanced by a rather dapper gentleman doffing his top hat to the passers-by. At the bottom of the front label is an illustration of New Brighton Tower, which when it was opened in around 1898 was the tallest building in Britain. The lettering stands out against the light mustard background of the label and the rear is informative, explaining that the decision to produce the same gin using different techniques was because there are always two sides of the story.

There is no getting away from it, this is a seriously impressive gin, one which hits all my requirements in a gin. Opening the bottle unleashes a heady aroma of juniper, citrus, and salty floral notes. In the mouth there is an unashamedly bold hit of juniper and pepper followed by a spicy middle passage and a surprisingly light and soft finish. This is pure heaven in a bottle. It is well-balanced, complex, sophisticated, and pulls no punches with an ABV of 47%. It has fast established itself as one of my favourites. I cannot wait to try the Darkside.

Until the next time, cheers!