Smag: En fyldig og kompleks smag mødes os – og det er svært at udskille de enkelte botanicals. Men udover enebær kan vi smage roiboss, kardemomme og strejf af anis. Og så er der trøflerne.. De giver en blød, rig umamiagtig tone til den fyldige krop. Flavour profile: boasts a distinct earthy character, enhanced with notes of fresh juniper, lemon, coriander and spices. To celebrate their incredible feat at the 2020 World Gin Awards, team Cruxland sent a bottle my way. Always itching for an outdoor adventure, I knew just the perfect place to honour this incredible gin. There is no dominant botanical upon the initial sip, with all parts striking a strange, bushy harmony. Aniseed, though, as it usually wants to do, becomes the drunk at the party half way through, making noise, falling over, dominating an otherwise balanced affair… It’s a bold botanical to use, especially as it takes no time to steal every bit of attention from the curious Kalahari truffle.

Den fungerer bedst med en ikke for kraftig tonic, og vi kan derfor anbefale Folkington’s Indian Tonic Light. Sometime during the day, I lost sight of Tim for a minute, and I scanned the sea of people to catch sight of him. There he stood, in the middle of the crowd, cradling a taster glass to his chest, his eyes closed and a slight smile on his lips. I instantly knew that he has fallen deeply and irrevocably in love. His love interest? A shot of gin. And not just any gin, I might add. That was the start of our adventure with Cruxland. The collaboration with Cornwall’s Sharp’s Brewery uses three different hops in the distillation process, alongside the usual botanicals.Cruxland Gin is already making waves in the UK! It has been recommended by The Evening Standard online as Leveres i en 1 liters flaske, som i sig selv er et lille kunstværk. Derudover i en tilhørende gaveæske. Fornem gave til én som vil forkæles med noget som ligger langt fra en ”standard-gin”. Cruxland gin is described as a “boutique” brand and also contains juniper berries, honey bush tea, coriander, rooibos, aniseed, cardamom, almonds, and lemon among its botanicals list. This gin uses Hebridean sugar kelp as one of its botanicals, bottling a taste of the Scottish Isle of Harris where it is made.

Her præsenterer vi vinderen fra World Gin Awards; Cruxland Gin. Det er Sydafrika på flaske. Destillatet er lavet af sydafrikanske druer, og blandt de spændende botanicals finder vi bl.a. de fornemme Kalahari ørkentrøfler! Men for lige at understrege det sydafrikanske yderligere, er der også anvendt lokale rooibos og honeybush. Derudover er der infuseret med mere klassiske botanicals som; kardemomme, citron, mandler, koriander, anis og naturligvis enebær. Den er dobbeltdestilleret i gamle pot-stills, og der er tale om håndværk af høj, høj kvalitet. Trøflerne infuseret i en London Dry Gin. Baseginnen starter med et druedestillat (der er jo MASSER af dejlige druer i Sydafrika) – derefter tilsættes den 9 botanicals. Bland andet Roiboos og Lemon Bush. Og til sidst infuseres ginnen altså med de sjældne trøfler! Og sikker en gin! Harris Distillery also sell their Sugar Kelp Aromatic Water separately, to add even more crisp sea air to your drink. We wanted to create a special gin with botanicals typical to South Africa and knew we needed a special ingredient to complement the flavours of the other botanicals,” said master distiller Pieter de Bod.

Gold

Presented by the popular resource for drinks professionals, The Drinks Report, the globe’s best tasting and best designed gins were announced at the Honourable Artillery Company in London during the Gin Magazine Awards Dinner. Preceding Cruxland’s announcement as overall winner for the World’s Best London Dry Gin, the brand scored a category win during the awards’ first-round results in 2020, 2019 and 2018 (press release). How we met Kalahari truffles only grow in the Kalahari after the first rains so we had to wait for that to happen and then we got the volumes we needed. Producenten af CRUXLAND DRY GIN har det ikke så sexede navn KWV (Koöperatieve Wijnbouwers Vereniging van Suid-Afrika). Det startede som et kooperativ for vindyrkere i Sydafrika men i dag er det et af de største distributører af vin og sydafrika i verden. Men. De producerer altså også stadig selv både vin og spiritus i lange baner. Bland andet altså denne smukke og unikke sag. We always find ourselves re-tracing our footsteps down memory lane when we’ve comfortably sat ourselves down at sunset with a Cruxland gin in hand. I still find it incredible how many memories a sight, a smell, a taste or a sound can invoke. It was actually The Tall Hedonist who first drew my attention to Cruxland Gin. An event on my social calendar that I never, ever miss, I first laid eyes on Cruxland at the 2018 Cape Town Gin and Tonic Festival. The photo below captures a bit of the festival two years ago.

Cruxland Gin deserves classic, and begs for you to be bold. As bold as the incredibly rare and enigmatic Kalahari N’abbas, also known as ‘Kalahari truffles’ that form the base of this gin. To make Cruxland Gin, du Toit and the team produce a neutral wine spirit. This spirit is then placed into the 500-litre pot still alongside a makeshift teabag containing the majority of the botanicals. The Kalahari truffle is distilled separately, and doesn’t meet the rest of the botanicals until long after the run, where the two distillates are blended along with additional grape neutral spirit and cut down with water to 43% ABV. Cruxland Gin to taste…We’d be very interested to see what the Kalahari truffle distillate tastes like separately, or even mixed into a more traditional base. It is, after-all, the namesake botanical: the Crux Constellation is an alternative name for the Southern Cross, and as ‘X’ marks the spot when truffle hunting, it ties in neatly. Made in South Africa, this Cruxland Gin is infused with Kalahari truffle to give it its distinctive taste, alongside more standard botanicals like honeybush and almond. The clean, neat, albeit deliciously complex lines of Cruxland gin simply laps up the earthiness of woody herbs. It welcomes the fresh acidity from citrus, as it takes hold of the spiciness of the coriander. Det første du vil blive mødt med, er den store smag af enebær, der i den grad formår at varme i munden. Når denne varme har lagt sig åbner sig en sandt krydderunivers, hvor særligt kardemomme, anis og hvad jeg tror er trøflen kommer igennem. Hvis du er til krydret gin – så Cruxland for dig. With the spirit itself distilled from rye grains grown in the fields of Suffolk, this is a surprising but pleasant East-meets-West situation.