In a city now gently bobbing away in small batch gin it would seem that there would be little room for another gin brand. Only in the last two years we have seen the launch of Pickerings and Edinburgh Gin and we have bars specialising in serving the raft of gins on the market.
But it would look like what was once classed as ‘mothers ruin’ can come in many forms and this time it comes via the Goddess of Gin – Daffys and we are rather delighted it has!
Launched only last month new kid on the block Daffys Gin has taken the spirit world by storm with its unique distillation process (which mirrors a malt whisky distillation) and clever use of branding, imagery and botanicals the brand have created something we think is quite divine and rather magical.
After their launch party on the 22nd of January at the Devil’s Advocate we thought we would quiz founder Chris Molyneaux and find out more about this new delicious Edinburgh creation.
1. Chris can you tell us a bit about yourself and how the idea for Daffy’s came about?
I grew up in Ireland and left home after school to become an apprentice wine maker in France. I then met my wife, moved to Edinburgh, before studying and training up as a whisky distiller.
Through my distilling studies and training in whisky and gin I had a goal to try and create a gin that would stand up to any great whisky or fine rum as an exceptionally good gin to enjoy by itself. Over 4 years of trialling, that gin turned out to be Daffy’s. The reception has been fantastic and we have recently won two trade blind tastings.
2. The imagery you use is very striking, it was actually one of the first things I noticed about the gin and loved it, tell us some more about it.
Once the spirit was perfected we approached the artist Robert McGinnis who painted the Breakfast at Tiffany’s poster and James Bond posters in the 60s and 70s, Barberella artwork and many other iconic works. He loved the idea of our goddess of gin and using the real life Daffy herself as his muse he created 14 paintings of his vision of Daffy from which we chose and developed the final artwork for our bottle.
3. Gin has been be increasing in popularity over the last two years and there are a few gin distillers in Edinburgh now, what sets Daffys apart from other small batch gins?
Rightly or wrongly we’re not trying to compete with other artisan distillers. We had a vision of what we wanted to do, we spent a long time setting it up, we’ve created Daffy’s and now we’re enjoying seeing that people are really appreciating and liking what we’ve done. We like other gins and spirits and so should our fans.
4. There are some quirks to your distilling process and botanicals you use can you tell us a bit more that?
We distil on a copper pot whisky still using very carefully sourced London Dry botanicals. We also distil using some other botanicals not used in other gin such as Lebanese mint. Lebanese mint is a variant of French salad mint grown in the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon. It is this botanical that gives our gin its great length and creamy notes. We steep our botanicals for several days and a run a very long and gentle distillation for 9 hours watching the still for every second and taking great care over cutting the heart of the run. Not forcing the production process supports the balance, complexity and smoothness of Daffy’s.
5. If you want to try a famous D&T where in Edinburgh do you recommend?
The Devil’s Advocate off the Royal Mile made several hundred of them at our party the other night and they were all amazing so that’s not a bad place to start but check out the stockists on our website (www.daffysgin.com) and your D&T guide to Edinburgh and it’s finest bars awaits!!
Want to get your hands on a bottle of Daffys?
We didn’t think it would be fair to be going on about such a great new gin without letting our TLE readers have a try which is why we have managed to secure 2 bottles of first distillation Daffys to give away to two readers.
Want to try it for yourself? Daffy’s Gin costs £34 per bottle and is available to buy direct from www.daffysgin.com
Want to win? Just like our Facebook page fill in your details and answer the following question.
Question – what type of mint is used as a botanical in Daffys Gin?
T&C’s
- Closing date for entries is the 28th of Febuary and two winners will be chosen and notified via email within 7 days of the closing date.
- Over 18’s only.
- UK entires only.
