Voyager Series ‘Guiding Star’ developed in collaboration with Dirk Niepoort Named ‘Guiding Star’ after a famous Salcombe Fruit Schooner built in 1874, this limited-edition gin has been developed in collaboration with Dirk Niepoort, one of the world’s most iconic port producers. cask finished In the summer of 2018, we created a new gin recipe as a base for the Devonshire sloes and damsons, taking into account the residual sugar content of the fruit and handpicked botanicals which would complement the natural aromas and flavours whilst drawing out the fruit’s natural sweetness. The sloes and damsons were macerated in the gin for several months to draw out the natural aromas, flavours, sugars and colour of the fruit before the liquid was filtered. It was then finished for three months in a hand picked 80-year-old tawny port cask that previously held Niepoort’s famous Colheita 1997 20-year-old tawny port, before being blended with naturally soft Dartmoor water. Unlike most sloe gins, no sugar was added to ‘Guiding Star’, with the natural sweetness coming from the lees in the port cask, creating an exceptionally well-balanced gin that has depth and body with a complex bitter sweet finish. Tasting notes: ‘Guiding Star’ is an exceptional cask finished sloe and damson gin where the classic autumnal stone fruit flavours have been accentuated with rose petals, bitter almonds and sweet orange peel. In the glass the gin is deep crimson in colour with a slight brick red tinge from the influence of the tawny port cask in which it was aged. On the palate it is rich and balanced with luscious notes of cherry, blackberries, tart redcurrants and spiced marzipan. The finish is tart with underlying sweetness from the lees of the Niepoort Colheita 1997 tawny port previously aged in the cask. Translated by Google