East Sussex, England, UK
Rude Mechanicals Vineyard Fine Gin
RUDE MECHANICALS VINEYARD GIN
A botanical compôte of juniper, mandarin flesh, cardamom, peel of clementine, lemon zest & wine. This is a gin that tastes like a gin… just a really good one.
- PRODUCT INFO If Rude Mechanicals was going to bother making a gin, we were going to have do it properly – from scratch and using wine from our vineyards. It’s that combination of our wine and Dr John Walters’ original scratch spirit that forms the unique base for our gin. The intensity of the flavours and aromas in Vineyard Gin come from the second distillation, where the hand-selected botanicals are distilled into the gin rather than using more conventional compounding methods. Only the hearts of both distillations are used in order to achieve Vineyard Gin’s ludicrously smooth finish.
- HOW TO SERVE IT We like to think the distillation of our efforts can be experienced in its purest form: sipped from a heavy tumbler with a single cube of ice. Alternatively, enjoy a generous measure with your favourite tonic. Serve over plenty of ice with a clutch of gently squeezed black grapes and a fresh basil leaf.
Rude Mechanicals
ABOUT RUDE MECHANICALS
Most people just want to drink as well as they can for the least amount of fuss possible. We produce accessible, high-quality drinks – made the right way – so ordinary drinkers can navigate their way through the noise and enjoy their favourite drinks more.
A BRIEF HISTORY lOF RUDE
Rude Mechanicals – like so many great stories, nights and regrets – starts with wine.
After several combined decades working in the wine industry, it was time for us to scratch another itch and experiment with all the other drinkable stuff we’d been ignoring. Unfortunately for the five of us, we have a burning passion only to make exceptional stuff, so creating products we were happy with was always going to be tricky…
Fortunately, when you’ve spent your life alongside some of the world’s best makers and minds, you bump into plenty of extraordinary people, with tens of thousands of hours of experience in ‘flavour’, who can help you out.
Rude Mechanicals is a collaboration. We believe in being greater than the sum of our parts. For that reason, we take a fastidious approach to choosing the perfect partner for each of our products. By seeking out those with equivalent drink-making experience, we’re able to harness the collective power of truly world-class palates and create uniquely well-made drinks.
THE RUDE WAY
We believe there’s an inherent joy in a well-made thing. But “well-made” isn’t easy.
That’s why we have a deep admiration for those who make it their life’s work to create something that raises the bar for us all.
The Rude Mechanicals way is to be uncompromising in our efforts to produce the best drinks we can, working closely master drink-makers, flavour experts and world-class palates to push us even further. Our guiding lights are absolute product quality and attention to detail at each stage of the process to ensure every sip is as good as it can be.
Everything we do is a joint effort. From cold fields to breezy barns, and round-the-clock drink-making. Our products are the result of hard work and spirited collaboration.
So yes, we’re a drinks company… just one that does things the right way, not the easy way.
MEET THE COLLABORATORS
Take a look at the incredible team of drink-makers who make Rude Mechanicals what it is. Some of them have been friends of ours for a really long time. Others, we’ve had the privilege of getting to know more recently. All of them are experts at what they do.
DR JOHN WALTERS
John is the Master Distiller at English Spirit in Essex. A doctor of Biochemistry and drinks-making wizard, John has spent his life perfecting the art of distillation and is the perfect partner for Vineyard Gin and Vigneron Rum products.
ERIC MONNIN
Eric is an incredible winemaker and even better friend. Having trained in Champagne and Burgundy, Eric now spends his time making and blending wine all over the world. When he’s not in the vineyard, he’s on his Harley.
SAMANTHA BAILEY
We’ve known Samantha for almost 30 years. Widely regarded to have an exceptional palate, Samantha is a flavour expert like no other. She’s our botanical engineer and a handy sense check for the quality of our products.
Conceived in a Vineyard, Born in a Barn – Pt.2
The story behind the making of Vineyard Gin: HOW we do it.
Last time we ended on a real cliff-hanger. You were left thinking: “I know why they make Vineyard Gin, but I just can’t wait to find out how they make it…”. It’s time to put you out of your misery.
As with most things Rude, it all starts with wine. Our decades of work in the wine industry have introduced us to an endless number of genius winemakers and more recently, with the explosion of the English wine scene, we’ve been able to gain access to high-quality excess wine from our very own shores. The wine that makes its way into Vineyard Gin is selected by our own winemaker and friend, Eric Monnin.
Meanwhile, in his breezy Essex barn Dr John Walters – you remember John, right? – creates a ‘neutral’ spirit from scratch. Rather than using grain, John chooses to make his scratch spirit from East Anglian sugar beet sugars due to the unique, yet subtle flavour it produces in the distillate. We’ve had the privilege of tasting this vodka-like spirit straight off the stills and can vouch for its deliciousness! As with everything that John distils, he’s very particular about the cutting of the heads and tails, meaning that even the foundations of our gin are of the highest possible quality.
Then, just like on TV, these two drink-makers meet on a park bench somewhere and Eric discreetly hands John a briefcase of wine, gets up and leaves. Really…! The English wine and scratch spirit are blended together to give us the unique base for Vineyard Gin. It’s at this point that the two worlds of winemaker and distiller become one.
Of course, every gin needs botanicals. Ours are hand-selected by one of the finest palates we’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting: Samantha Bailey. We wanted Vineyard Gin to taste like a gin – no additional flavours, colours or gimmicks – it just had to be a really good one! With that in mind, Samantha devised a compote of juniper, mandarin flesh, cardamom, peel of clementine, and lemon zest to add to our wine and scratch spirit base.
Rather than more conventional compounding methods (basket or bathtub), our botanicals are distilled into the gin. This means they’re heated up inside the still along with the base spirit to give us a greater extraction of flavour and mouthfeel. It’s not the easiest way to make a gin, but all other routes were unsatisfactory to us. John again diligently cuts the heads and tails from the second distillation. What’s left, drizzling slowly from the still, is a product that contains the botanicals’ natural oils, packed full of flavour and texture.
All that’s left is to cut the gin to 41% ABV as it’s the ‘sweet spot’ at which we felt this particular gin, with its specific botanical set, happened to ‘sing’ best. We then stick it in a bottle, label it and cross our fingers that someone will want to buy it.
Please buy it…
Alright, that’s it. You had the ‘why’, we’ve just given you the ‘how’. Thanks for reading this slightly lengthy post, feel free to get in touch if you’ve got any questions or fancy a booze-related chin wag. See you next time.
RM x
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