Sunderland distillery launches coffee-flavoured gin

A Sunderland distillery has combined people’s loves of coffee and gin in their latest creation.

Poetic License Independent Small Batch Distillery, which is based within the Roker Hotel, is launching an Espresso Gin as part of the next release of its limited edition Rarities range.

Owners at the distillery say it has the depth and intensity of an espresso, without the bitterness, followed by more typical gin flavours of zingy lime peel, pepper and juniper.

Only a few hundred bottles of each flavour are made in The Rarities range and once they’re gone, they’re gone.

The latest offering will be available from next week, with pre-orders being taken now.

Speaking about his inspiration for the new flavour, distiller Luke Smith said: “We do love to experiment and having produced lots of fruit-flavoured gins I wanted to push the boundaries a bit further.

“Coffee is a very strong flavour itself so it was a tricky balance to strike to ensure both the flavours of the coffee and the gin came across but I am happy with how the gin turned out.

“We worked in collaboration with fellow north-east business Tynemouth Coffee Company using their Espresso blend coffee - this uses arabica beans picked from 2000ft above sea level to ensure only the finest are used. These were coarsely ground, placed in the pot and distilled along with our other botanicals.”

Talking about how this gin is best served, Luke said: “This gin is delightful just with ice, but with light tonic and a lime peel garnish really works as a G&T. As a cocktail, it would be a travesty not to use this in an espresso martini. We found a substituting out the Kahlua for the Espresso Gin works well. Also try putting steeping coffee beans in the vodka for an extra coffee hit and better retention of the crema head on the drink.”

Other limited edition Rarity gins created by the distillery include orange blossom, cherry and basil, gooseberry and elderflower and a blackberry and bay, all of which sold out a few days after being launched.