Page 2 - HC Observer Issue 8 - Kettering Edition

BRYAN'S
WARNER'S GIN DISTILLERY IN HARRINGTON
GIN
TRAIL
Bryan Connellan guides you to the top spots to sup your gin in our region.
The Blue Bell, Gretton
I relied this
time on Sarah, our property manager director in Corby, to
give me the low down on G&Ts
in the village of Gretton. The Blue Bell pub seems to hit the right juniper notes !
Pete is in charge of all things gin at The Blue Bell so he explained their Ginosophy...
‘We have gone for a wide variation of gins from the expected to the unexpected. For instance our Isle of Harris gin can only be bought direct from Harris while our Strawberry and Black pepper gin comes from nearer to home in Norfolk. Edin Mill is also a favourite. Two Birds from Market Harborough is delicious but our most popular gin is Warner's Rhubarb gin which goes really well with Fever Tree ginger ale and a slice of orange. Tanquery over the past couple of years have introduced Seville orange, which people seem to like.
We also have various gins from places such as Zurich and Belfast.
My personal favourite is from the Amalfi coast and is a lemon flavoured gin called Malfy ‘.
Falls Farm
How lucky are we to have our very own gin distillery of distinction nestled secretly away in the beautiful village of Harrington. When I enquired about their product, Helen at Warner's (formerly known as Warner Edwards) couldn’t have been kinder and invited me in to join on one of their popular tours, where upon they explained with enthusiasm and passion the story of a little independent company taking on the Goliath Gin companies of the world – and they are making massive inroads already, taking 1% of the UK market and exporting internationally.
They call themselves ‘Gin farmers' and I understand why as everything they grow is organic – the botanicals in their beautiful gardens displaying a myriad of colours including elderflower picked by hand, lemon baum, raspberries and many other hedgerow fruit. They even have their own bee-hives producing honey for other delicious gin concoctions.
Their latest addition to the Waitrose and M&S shelves will be a rather lovely raspberry gin, which I’m told is like sniffing a freshly opened punnet of this delicious fruit.
They say that ‘craft is graft' and these old fashioned ideals percolate through their gin.
I witnessed the whole magical process where they distill their potions on site ready to pour into a newly designed personalised bottle just for Warner's. They will even have on them the name of the master distiller – maybe you’ll get Simon or Lois!
The company is very proud of their ‘Rock star’ celebrity which is their trade mark rhubarb gin using fresh rhubarb juice – no additives here – this I’m reliably informed by the pubs on my trail is the new cool fuel!
For your own tour of this fabulous company contact Warner's via their web site at www.warnersdistillery.com
www.hendersonconnellan.co.uk