Sacred
Sacred Gin – Sacred Spirits Company: 40%ABV
Botanicals: include juniper, frankincense, cardamon, orange, lime, lemon, cassia
Operating out of the back room of a residential house, with a vacuum pump situated in a wendy-house in Hart’s back garden, Sacred Micro Distillery was established in London in 2009 (at a similar time to Sipsmith). Prior to starting a micro distillery, Ian Hart was a city headhunter specialising in Quants with one of his biggest clients being Lehman Brothers. Post credit crunch, business was slow, leaving Ian with a lot of spare time in which he started researching and experimenting with the modern techniques of distillation. Having studied natural sciences at Cambridge, this seemed like the most natural fit. Beginning with wine, Ian removed water from clarets using a two-stage rotary vane vacuum pump to find the higher quality wine within. The idea behind doing this was to create richer wines from lesser vintages and whilst the experiment worked, it would never be commercially viable. Thankfully for juniper fans, his sights soon turned to creating a contemporary gin.
Sacred Gin’s recipe is based on a formula from the time of the Dutch Gift of 1660. In the mid to late 17th Century, the Dutch spice trade was dominated by the Dutch East India Company and substantial new spice discoveries were documented by the Carmelite missionary Father Mattheus à St. Joseph. The Dutch dominance of the spice trade lasted for some decades and the famous and significant botanical Encyclopaedia, Hortus Indicus Malabaricus, was published in 12 large volumes. Working through some of the better known botanicals (or more commonly associated with gin) as well as the more obscure ones – Ian drew from the encyclopaedia to further understand how best to distil the flavour from each botanical. After some months of trying, a breakthrough occurred and his gin testing audience persuaded him that a new recipe created at the start of 2009 was a unique new gin style. The name Sacred actually comes from one of the botanicalsused to create this gin – Frankincense (whose other name is Boswellia Sacra, perhaps making the “sacred” link a little mor
Operating out of the back room of a residential house, with a vacuum pump situated in a wendy-house in Hart’s back garden, Sacred Micro Distillery was established in London in 2009 (at a similar time to Sipsmith). Prior to starting a micro distillery, Ian Hart was a city headhunter specialising in Quants with one of his biggest clients being Lehman Brothers. Post credit crunch, business was slow, leaving Ian with a lot of spare time in which he started researching and experimenting with the modern techniques of distillation. Having studied natural sciences at Cambridge, this seemed like the most natural fit. Beginning with wine, Ian removed water from clarets using a two-stage rotary vane vacuum pump to find the higher quality wine within. The idea behind doing this was to create richer wines from lesser vintages and whilst the experiment worked, it would never be commercially viable. Thankfully for juniper fans, his sights soon turned to creating a contemporary gin.
Sacred Gin’s recipe is based on a formula from the time of the Dutch Gift of 1660. In the mid to late 17th Century, the Dutch spice trade was dominated by the Dutch East India Company and substantial new spice discoveries were documented by the Carmelite missionary Father Mattheus à St. Joseph. The Dutch dominance of the spice trade lasted for some decades and the famous and significant botanical Encyclopaedia, Hortus Indicus Malabaricus, was published in 12 large volumes. Working through some of the better known botanicals (or more commonly associated with gin) as well as the more obscure ones – Ian drew from the encyclopaedia to further understand how best to distil the flavour from each botanical. After some months of trying, a breakthrough occurred and his gin testing audience persuaded him that a new recipe created at the start of 2009 was a unique new gin style. The name Sacred actually comes from one of the botanicalsused to create this gin – Frankincense (whose other name is Boswellia Sacra, perhaps making the “sacred” link a little mor
With Q tonic, I liked that some of the assertive heat from the spirit came through. Still a rather dry gin and tonic overall, with a quiet bitterness presiding over the palate. Notes of lemon, angelica leave a faint earthy and juniper aftertaste. Quite nice, as without a doubt the gin is the star of the show. Being bottled at only 40%, that is quite an accomplishment and a testament to how brightly the flavors of the spirit come through. Maybe there’s something more to this distillation process here…
I then pulled up a martini with one of my favorite dry Vermouths: Vya Extra Dry*. Juniper up front, but muddled and spring field-like [it’s the Vermouth adding some of this touch], very verdant, and very bright. Sacred came through most clearly on the finish, sharp and hot, with cardamom, nutmeg coming through after the Vermouth, leaving a similar finish to the G&T. Quite nice, and quite smooth. I liked it a bit.
Sacred Gin is a solid ingredient in any gin cocktail. It holds up quite nicely, and the flavors I think are actually quite vibrant and bright. I’d recommend the Aviation and 20th Century cocktails, I can only half recommend the Negroni, as that seemed to be the place where the strength issues was forced a little bit and I started to lose some of the notes. It was fine, but merely average. It could have been any gin in the Negroni. Such is the challenge of the perfect Negroni, but alas I digress.
Sacred gin is good neat, but it’s a great mixing gin too. It’s really a well made first step between the worlds of classic gin and contemporary gin. I’d say it’s contemporary in the flavor, but classic in the way the palate is constructed. If you’ve been on the fence about those really out there gins, but are interested in a first step towards a new style, this might be one gin to consider on your journey.