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30th October 2018
08:39am GMT
I can't ever imagine living in a big city that's hours and hours away from any water. Whenever I see something related to the sea - be it a sea salt choccy bar or a shell necklace it makes my smile.
It's a known fact at this stage that I call myself a Ginfluencer and I have gone on a journey tasting all of the best gins on offer in the country.
if you haven't guessed by now, this week's gin is bringing a taste of Ireland's salty sea to your gin goblet.
An unparalleled gin that uses local botanicals along with salt water and sugar kelp taken from the sea.
The gin comes in two flavours: Beara Ocean Gin infused with salt water and Pink Ocean Gin.
Today I'm going to focus on the OG as I prefer clear gin to pink.
If there's ever a gin I've come across that reminds me of home, this is it.
It's got that element of the Irish sea, it's also made with beara fuschia, which we had growing in my garden when I was growing up. I used to pick them and pretend they were earrings.
Anyone else?
The bottle is plain and simple.
A thick white label surrounds it with a wave-like bottom with a shiny blue film beneath. There's also circular sticker above it with a ships steering wheel - all ocean vibes.
Behind the label reveals a stunning illustration of sugar kelp, on the the gin's key ingredients.
Beara Ocean Gin hails from the Beara Penninsula on the south-west coast of Cork.
It was created by siblings John and Eileen who hail from the area and wanted to create something special to reflect the beauty of their hometown. They spent over 18 months travelling around the world meeting distillers and experts alike in order to create the best of the best.
Both enrolled in gin school and began working on their project.
The gin is handcrafted and infused with wild Atlantic sea water and Ventry Harbour sugar kelp in a modern I-still and a traditional Muller still. The pair got experimenting with the still, tested recipes and tweaked the process to create a gin as impressive as its surrounding landscape.
The final recipe was created and the team started to produce what Beara Ocean Gin is today.
These really unusual elements give it a unique flavour.
The top notes give a sharp kick from the cardamom followed by a sweetness from the sugar kelp and an all-round aroma of juniper berries.
It's a very crisp, natural aroma, different from most other gins.
There's a spicy kick to begin with from the cardamom along with a sweet saltiness from the salt water.
It's definitely a more exotic flavour to your standard blend.
With tonic you really can taste the fresh flavours.
The cardamom, salt and sweetness from the sugar kelp are the most prominent flavours. Undertones of citrus and juniper berries finally hit the palette, giving it an all-round refreshing flavour.
A 70cl of Beara Ocean Gin costs €50 and can be found in Supervalue stores as well as the likes of the Celtic Whiskey Shop and other premium distributers.
It's a cool gin that pulls in traits of the south-west coastline of Ireland, which makes it a really enjoyable gin experience.
Cheers!
Header image: @bearadistillery
READ MORE: GINFLUENCED: WHITLEY NEILL TAKES GIN FLAVOURS TO THE NEXT LEVEL
