Always with an eye for a bargain I noticed in mid-July that our local Waitrose store were selling Berkshire Botanical Dry Gin at a knockdown price of £14 for a 50-centilitre bottle. It was too much of a temptation to resist. It is one of a number of gins produced by Jonathan Neill’s Yattendon Distillery which is based in the 9,000-acre Yattendon Estate in West Berkshire.

If Neill’s name sounds familiar, then you would be right as he was the other half of the Whitley Neill brand that launched in 2005 and subsequently Mary-le-Bone Gin. When he decided to seek pastures new, he moved to Frilsham in the estate and set up a new venture with the aim of creating “enduring, sustainable botanical spirits and liqueurs” inspired by and using botanicals grown on the Estate.

At the start in 2019 it was an archetypal cottage industry, their pot still named “Harry” put to work in their orangery and when not in use proudly displayed in The Royal Oak Public House and Hotel in the village of Yattendon. In early 2021, Neill secured a unit in the estate where they house their new 200-litre pot still.

The Christmas trees that surround the distillery provided the inspiration for their Dry Gin, which uses nine botanicals – juniper, angelica root, coriander seeds, orris root, cassia bark, orange peel, lemon peel, pink grapefruit, and Norwegian spruce – which are distilled in a wheat base spirit. The resultant spirit has a fighting weight of 40.3% ABV which makes it ideal for an early evening tipple. On the nose there is a distinctive melange of bright citrus and piney juniper, an invitation that is hard to resist. In the glass, the crystal-clear spirit is crisp, smooth, and dry with the juniper complimented by zesty citric elements. The aftertaste is long and clean and surprisingly peppery.

It had a light feel to it and the combination of zesty citrus, piney juniper, and earthy spiciness worked well, the addition of a premium tonic enhancing the pine elements, making it a refreshing summer tipple.

The bottle is cylindrical and made of brown glass with “Yattendon Distillery” embosed at the base. The shoulders are rounded, the neck short and the wooden cap has an artificial stopper. The labelling is busy in a subdued way, using a pale blue background. At the centre is a suited fox flanked on its lefthand side by an illustration of a Norwegian Spruce branch and cone and on the righthand side by a bunch of juniper berries. Butterflies flutter around and one is at rest on the B of Berkshire, that particular motif also embossed on the bottle’s shoulder, a nod to their collaboration with the Berks, Bucks, and Oxon Wildlife Trust.       

It was an impulse purchase, one driven by the price rather than any deep desire to sample the product, but I was pleasantly surprised by how moreish it was. A sign of the times maybe but Waitrose do seem to be going through a spell of heavily discounting their gins. I could not resist a bottle of Tappers’ Brightside at a knockdown price of £17.99. Every little helps.

Until the next time, cheers!