My friends and I all love a bit of what they call ‘mother’s ruin’ these days although I think it might be a taste which comes with age. I don’t ever remember drinking it when I was in my late teens and early twenties, instead favouring more sickly alco pops and the like but as time’s gone on my taste buds have rejected the latter in favour of a more subtle flavour.

I absolutely delight in a summer evening tipple during the dusky light with a breeze dusting my shoulders as I sip on a cold G&T soothing the stresses away and can’t think of anything worse than a bright blue or pink bottle of something filled with sugar. Gin is, for me, best mixed with a really decent tonic, a wedge of lemon and over ample rocks of ice almost to the top of the glass. I’m traditional in that sense I suppose but it has to be said that any old gin just won’t do.

I’m selective when it comes to brand and I know what I like. There are of course inexpensive bottles which hit the mark but for the most case, it is the more expensive bottles which float my gin boat. What can I say you get what you pay for very often when it comes to gin.

This week I was sent a bottle of very high quality gin from one of my fave companies when it comes to buying decent bottles. 31Dover, who deliver straight to your door with beautiful packaging to boot making it a gift to yourself, or, if you can bear to part with it, someone else, sell some of the finest gin on the market and not just that but the unusual too.

The bottle 31Dover sent me to try this time comes from De Laet & Van Haver and it’s exclusive in this country to them. It really is a bottle with difference and has tested me in my drinking taste buds in a way I didn’t expect for The Butchers Gin is really something very unusual indeed.

Having gained international recognition and critical acclaim from Michelin-starred chefs and the brothers Adrià for their Secreto 07 beef, Belgian butchers De Laet & Van Haver have taken their quest for innovation one step further, introducing their Butcher’s Gin.

The gin base is distilled in the London dry way, with two unique distillates added: herbs and meat. Utilising the herbs and spices used to create the rub for the award-winning Secreto 07 beef, this top-secret blend is macerated before Gin distillation, with a little of the dried Secreto 07 meat softened for 3 days in neutral grain alcohol 96° and then also added to the spirit.

The resulting Gin is spicy and full of character, with the additional botanicals of juniper, cardamom, coriander, orange zest, angelica, iris root and black pepper resulting in a traditional gin with a wholly unique twist.

So… On first open the smell of the gin didn’t do it for me I have to say. It’s quite strong and I think just the knowing about the meat side to it’s making made me feel a little off put. I’m no fair weather gin friend though so I wanted to get to the bottom of why this gin is in such high regard when my initial smell and subsequent taste didn’t find the taste I so desired. I decided to try and re-educate my pallate and told myself to not expect anything. I looked at the ingredients and noted the advice of pepper being a great bedfellow and decided to make a cocktail for visiting friends! I knew the gin was good, it was smooth without a hint of harsh but the taste needed to be complimented in a way that perhaps these top chefs knew how to do and maybe I wasn’t so deft at. But… I got there in the end!

Using my nose I added to my Kilner drinks dispenser one and a half part gin to every bottle of the delicious 1724 tonic, also from 31Dover.

Next I needed to add my compliments to the new taste which was made much more subtle from the distinctly bold tonic water. Orange slices, balck peppercorns which I ground and lemon thyme from my garden.

And then I let it steep in the jar for a couple of hours before adding lots of crushed ice to bring the temperature down.

The Kilner drinks dispenser was the perfect way to serve this drink as it didn’t allow more than a small amount of pepper to come through to the glass with the gin and tonic but all the flavour had sunk into the tipple beautifully. The result was actually very nice although I think it may be a taste which grows on me more, perhaps my taste buds need to mature yet still before I can truly appreciate it. It seemed from the table that the men preferred it to the women and I wonder if this is typical? With that in mind I think it would make an ideal gift for Father’s Day for something very different. Another great idea would be to serve it at a sophisticated summer BBQ, to drink with good quality steaks and ribs,

Butcher’s Gin is exclusively available online from 31DOVER.com priced at £54.95 and right now you can get a 10% dicount for the gin or any other product whihc takes your fancy using the exclusive code 31DRRB at the checkout.

If you’re not quite daring enough to try this totally unique gin, and I’m rather glad I have, then don’t forget they also sell lots of other premium products which would make the day special for Dad. How about a wild card brew? My husband thinks they’re great!

We were sent a bottle of Butchers Gin from 31Diver for the purpose of an honest review.

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