AN IRISH gin offering which promises to “cut the bull” surrounding the increasingly popular spirit is gearing up for World Gin Day
Dublin-based Outcast Brands claims “gin gets more pretentious every day” but their version Blood Monkey Gin “is here to cut the bull when everyone else is full of it”.
Their inaugural product range currently includes Blood Monkey Irish Gin and Blood Monkey Irish Spice Storm – and it prides itself on being a gin that “tastes like gin was meant to”.
The name Blood Monkey and the drill bit design of their logo are nods to the act of ‘bleeding the monkey’, the term given when sailors drilled into the officers’ barrel of grog to steal the liquor inside.
“It’s their spirit that inspires how the gin is made, expanding on the traditional gin recipe, which hails from the Netherlands in the 17th century, and which was acquired by Irish and English sailors and brought back to key maritime centres of the time,” the brand confirms.
Ireland's newest gin brand can be enjoyed 'straight up'They also confirm that their gin goes against the grain of what is currently on offer in the "saturated" craft gin market.
“Unlike most, these gins are created to be enjoyed straight up, without a cucumber in sight,” they explained.
The gin, distilled by West Cork Distiller’s Master Distiller, Deirdre Bohane in Skibbereen, is made from a blend of botanicals including lime leaf, almond, juniper berry, orris root, Irish rosemary, liquorice, coriander seed, chamomile, and angelica root.
“It is a sophisticated spirit with a complex character that reveals various details as it evolves on the palate,” Bohane explains.
“It hits you with a smooth, warm citrus spice followed with a slight hint of floral entwined with smoky, caramel flavours of whiskey.”
Blood Monkey gin can be enjoyed neat or with a mixerFor those looking for a gin with a zesty balance of orange and cardamom, they also offer Blood Monkey Irish Spice Storm, which comes with a kick of aromatic spice.
“Whilst both gins can be enjoyed as a traditional gin and tonic, or in gin and whiskey cocktails, these are one of only a few gins that are designed to be drunk neat with the versatile liquid drinking like a white whiskey,” they confirm.
Recently awarded gold medals at the Global Gin Masters 2022 in the Ultra-Premium and Contemporary categories, the gins are the brainchild of Dublin-based entrepreneur Jason Kidd, who sought to stand out from the plethora of botanical gins which have hit the market.
“The craft gin category has become tired and saturated with too many brands peddling the same old thing,” Kidd states.
“With Blood Monkey we are calling time on the category conversions and are proud to produce a gin that tastes how it was meant to, in a style that hasn’t been distilled in Ireland or the UK for almost 350 years”.
World Gin Day falls on Saturday, June 10.
