At Limoncello we do our best to bring the best of Italian food, drink and attitude into the heart of Cambridge. In great part this is due to our commitment to excellence when it comes to the refined pleasures of eating and drinking. And we loudly proclaim that Italians simply do this better.
But every now and then we find a local gem. Something so good that even we have to grudgingly admit that the English have done it better. This time. And this is certainly true of the locally distilled Cambridge Gin.
A Gin Explosion
It’s fair to say that the past couple of decades has seen an explosion of new gins coming onto the market. Part of this is due to an increased level of wealth and interest in awesome beverages. But also partly due to the relative ease of entering the gin market.
Most spirits are distilled from a specific organic source: brandy from grapes; rum from molasses; and vodka and whiskey from various grains. Some of the flavour of that original organic source ends up in the final product and contributes to its quality. So if you wanted to start making brandy, you need to start with a vineyard.
Dark spirits also have to be aged for a few years up to a few decades for their flavours to mature. And then expertly blended into the final product. Not a problem for gins.
But the starting point for gin is effectively pure ethanol. A blank canvass onto which one can paint new flavours. Far easier and quicker to get hold of. And the infusion of those botanicals into gin is also swift and easy. Which means that one could go from having a great idea for a new premium gin to your product on shelves in just a couple of years. Compared to a couple of decades for a new premium whiskey or brandy.
Cambridge Gin
This is exactly what our friends down at the Cambridge Gin Distillery did. Their take was to go foraging in the countryside around Cambridge for botanicals. And then take whatever they found and make gin from it! Local gin. Literally. Initially they made small seasonal batches, but the product has since been refined into their wonderful signature Cambridge Dry Gin: flavoured with basil, rosemary, angelica seed, rose petals and lemon verbena amongst others.
It makes a wicked Dry Martini. And a great Gin & Tonic too.
But then they went beyond to create some truly unique and remarkable new gins. Our favourite for sheer audacity has to be their Japanese Gin. No, not made in Japan or by Japanese. Instead they took the foraging for ingredients idea and turned it upon the sorts of herbs, spices and pastes found in Japanese cuisine. Then used them to make gin! Crazy idea, but award winningly successful!
However, our favourite for relevance is a simple choice. Limoncello is widely known for our love of truffles and our offering of a wide array of truffle infused products. So when they came up with a Truffle Gin…it was clearly a match made in heaven!
Come down to Limoncello sometime to see the full selection.