Mermaid Zest Gin

If the lead up to Junipalooza wasn’t already causing impatient gin fans to fidget in their seats – this week also marks the arrival of several huge releases, two of which we have available to Spirits Kiosk shoppers before anyone else...

Meet Mermaid Zest Gin!

Many gin fans will already be familiar with the complex yet contemporary celebration of the Isle of Wight coastal botanicals throughout the Mermaid range. The Mermaid Zest Gin has been designed to offer up a serve that augments that further with a more vivacious zing.

Mermaid Zest GinIt’s zingy, zesty, citrussy – but it also shares a lot of the distillery DNA and to understand it, you must first understand what this new citrus layer is built upon – the flagship original Dry Gin.

Their signature recipe takes a combination of classic coastal botanicals, like rock samphire, and merges it with cascade hops, grains of paradise and a careful selection of classic gin botanicals. When you drink it, it has a clear lemon zest upfront, a hint of herbal salinity and a peppery finish. This core structure acts as the base of the new Mermaid Zest Gin.

Next up comes the elements that elevate this new release into its intended zesty heights. Specifically, grapefruit peel and cascade hops are combined with island grown bergamot, lemon zest and rosemary. This intoxicating mix is then distilled and once made, it is blended with their signature gin in an exacting recipe designed to keep the best parts of the original, while adding a new refreshing twist. While not stated, the slight yellow tint of the liquid would also indicate a further citrus infusion right at the end too.

On the nose you are initially hit with a spray of fresh grapefruit and perfumed bergamot, quickly softened by a gentle kick of juniper. There's a sherbet-like touch to the aroma and this full sweetness is reflected to taste. Neat, that luscious citrus-laden mouthfeel is multifaceted and bright - a joyous summery statement that delivers a complete sense of their hero botanicals - but with enough bite to keep the depth of flavour and add a sense of gravitas at the end of each sip.

All the lovely citrus aside, the rosemary works hard to boost the herbal core at the heart of the gin and once mixed with tonic - you can really detect the underlying dry gin, with hops and grains of paradise making their mark on the finish.

THE CITRUS

Citrus might not be the first thing you think of when you cast your mind to local Isle of Wight botanicals, but these fruits are not just an oddity, they have a royal pedigree too…

Osborne House was once Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s palatial holiday home on the Isle of Wight. Osborne reflects their passions, tastes and style. There’s ornate furnishings and artefacts from The Royal Collection which fill rooms and corridors where Victoria entertained heads of state, inventors, other royalty and ruled the vast British Empire. As was fashionable at the time, namely because of the prince’s love of botany, the estate is also home to impressive walled gardens and glasshouses. 

While no-one can be sure when the trees were first planted exactly, today, the garden's southern walls boast tall climbing citrus trees that have been carefully pruned and protected by a dedicated team. The Isle of Wight Distillery worked closely with Osborne House’s to add another P – plucking, and once ripe were took delivery of their precious bounty and got straight into distilling.

THE BOTTLE

Inspired by the lush, verdant island, the seagrass beds and the natural world, Mermaid Zest Gin took its packaging inspiration from the landscape around it. 

Usually when you think ‘citrus’ you may initially lean towards warmer saturated tones of orange or yellow, which were on the cards for a while here. But we think the emerald green makes Mermaid Zest stand out in all the right ways. It holds on to their herbaceous core and to their oceanic home, it’s also a nice nod to gin’s traditional colour tones – a classy touch that makes this release as beautiful to look at as the rest of the range. 

The fact that it’s entirely plastic free also helps boost its credentials too.

SUGGESTED SERVES

Now that you have some context, the next important question would be – how best to drink it? Mermaid Zest is all about lively and refreshing serves. If you were to drown the gin with any excessive flavours or sugary distractions, you will inevitably lose sight of the spirit’s soft complexity. Here is some serves we can’t wait to play around with:

Mermaid Zest & Tonic

Pour a measure of Mermaid Zest Gin into an ice-filled glass, top with tonic (preferably Fever Tree Mediterranean Tonic) and garnish with a slice of fresh lemon and a sprig of rosemary.

The Mediterranean tonic will channel into the gin’s naturally zesty texture which will essentially enhance the lighter and brighter notes of the gin. With a simple garnish of rosemary, the added herbal aromas will remind the palate of Mermaid’s coastal and vegetal provenance on the Isle of Wight in a beautifully balanced pairing.

A Zesty Summer Spritz

Citrus forward gin always make us want to make a Spritz! In this instance, pour a 40ml measure of Mermaid Zest Gin into an ice-filled glass, add 10ml of lemon juice and top with soda and garnish with a grapefruit peel and some mint. That's every summer BBQ this year sorted then...

Get yours today here: Mermaid Zest Gin

Want to know more about the rest the Mermaid range? We have three of the expressions in store...