News has reached us over the weekend of the release Twin
Rivers Naked Uncut Gin, bottled at 77%. Whilst I am yet to try this new gin, I
congratulate Twin Rivers on the launch, and concede that Strane Uncut London
Dry Gin 76% is no longer the strongest gin on the UK market.
Strane Uncut London Dry Gin was first bottled back in 2014,
and came about as a consequence of the unusual way Strane is produced, not a
deliberate attempt to try to produce the strongest gin. Looking to preserve the
intensity of the flavours in gin distillation, Pär Caldenby, distiller/
proprietor of the Smögen Distillery, developed a methodology in which three base
gins; citrus, herbal, and juniper are distilled with the same 12 botanicals but
in different ratios. The bases are then blended before the addition of water to
create Strane Merchant Strength London Dry Gin 47.4% and Strane Navy Strength
London Dry Gin 57.1%. As Pär Caldenby blends the base gins straight from the
still, he became accustomed to sampling Strane ‘uncut’, and decided to create
an ‘Uncut’ addition to the Strane family. For Pär, ‘Uncut’ refers not just to
the consequential high strength, but also to the intensity of flavour.
We first imported Strane Uncut London Dry Gin, at that time
75.3%, to the UK in the spring of 2015. Initially we were careful not to claim
that it was the strongest gin, but as we received feedback from gin journalists
and gin bars, it became clear that the next strongest gin in the UK market at
the time was less than 70% vol..
It was always inevitable that at some point Strane Uncut would
be knocked off the ‘strongest gin’ podium. We are simultaneously flattered that
Strane Uncut has been copied, and surprised that with the current interest in
gin, that Strane Uncut was the strongest gin available in the UK for so long,
for three years from 2015 to 2018.
Strongest gin or not, Strane Uncut 76% remains the original Uncut gin,
and delivers a wonderfully powerful juniper burst, which we believe gin
enthusiasts will continue to enjoy. Robert Ransom, UK Importer.
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| The Strane Gin family |
