Landermere Farm Buildings 3A, Landermere Rd, Thorpe-le-Soken CO16 0NH, UK
Tides Fortune Gin Discover the riches Coast
A warm welcome to East Coast Distillery, our small batch gin distillery in Essex
We’re proud to be able to celebrate the beauty and the character of the Essex Coast.
Our small gin distillery in Essex is located just off of the estuary in Landermere, where the pace of life reflects the time we take to produce every bottle of Gin so that each one brings happiness to the gin lover.
Inspired by the sea – Made by the sea
Tides Fortune Gin Discover the riches Coast
Discover the riches of the coast
Tide’s Fortune is crisp with classic
juniper flavours, perfect for any gin lover.
A fragrant juniper nose, citrus piquancy moving into a warming anise flavour and a long, lingering smokiness on the palate.
Tides Fortune Gin Discover the riches Coast / Essex Dry
The story so far
It began where all good ideas do – over a cup of tea and a chocolate biscuit at the end of a hard day in the office. Whilst we all love our day jobs which span across the public sector, we started to think what else we could do. It had to be something we would all be excited about. An opportunity to be creative, to give something back to the local area and a chance to meet new and interesting people.
After a very fleeting mention of becoming goat farmers, we had our eureka moment – gin!
The next day we started our research and immersed ourselves in every opportunity to learn about distilling and the magical botanicals that make each gin unique. We had lots to learn so we looked for people we could learn from – from master distillers producing beautiful gins already, to experienced foragers and farmers.
Both the Mann and the Burrows-North households had extensive gin cupboards, so we set about a series of tasting evenings. With each bottle carefully wrapped in newspaper we tasted every single bottle in our cupboards, developing our taste buds and building a picture of what we loved and hoped for in our gin.
That was 2018 and two years later we were delighted to launch our signature gin – Tide’s Fortune.
That was only the beginning. We are super excited to see where our fortune takes us next. Over the coming year we will be adding a small number of limited edition gins and other spirits to our range. Keep in touch to find out more.
East Coast Distillery / Glass of Bubbly
Tides Fortune Gin Discover the riches Coast
When discovering a new label, whether it be Prosecco or Gin, it’s one thing randomly buying a bottle and enjoying it at home, but a completely different experience visiting their home base, their winery or distillery, meeting the people responsible for its creation, tasting it with owners or family and listening to them passionately tell you how it all began.
East Coast Distillery is one of those real local distilleries, located in Essex and open to the public from 10 am to 3 pm on Fridays and Saturdays, they’re a small scale operation, with the owners still having day jobs in the public sector, being able to work 4 days a week and dedicating the other 3 days to East Coast Distillery, so whatever day you decide to visit, you’ll meet one of the owners.
Tides Fortune Gin Discover the riches Coast / Distillery
The dream is to dedicate all of their time to East Coast Distillery, building the brand, the fanbase and keeping all their ingredients local, with them even growing their own fennel in their back garden.
The reason I like their story so much is that it shows us it’s all possible, from a Bright Idea in May 2018, after a long day at work in the office and fuelled by tea and chocolate biscuits, they had an idea to open their own distillery, (after a very fleeting mention of becoming goat farmers)
In August 2018 they said let’s get started bringing our idea to life, they attended an event run by The Gin Foundry about how to open a distillery. They realised it was going to be tough – but so very worth it, and in November 2018 they immersed themselves in all things gin visiting and talking to distillers, learning about the different botanicals they could use, tasting and tasting some more, developing their tastes and then they came up with a plan!
Tides Fortune Gin Discover the riches Coast / Filling the Bottles
After two years, in 2020, they launched their signature gin – Tdie’s Fortune, expanding slowly as time went on, adding another to their range, and collaborating with local businesses to create limited edition bottles, with them now being available in Fenwick in Colchester.
Inspired by the sea – Made by the sea, their spirits are full of the fortune of the East Coast, and that’s why we at Glass of Bubbly decided to unite their Essex Dry Gin with a bottle of Prosecco to create a Prosecco Cocktail.
What do we do
Our Gin is distilled in small batches using our still – Monty – the beating heart of the distillery. Monty is a modular still and arrived for us to build to our own design – much like a giant Meccano set! A series of copper bubble plates create cycles of reflux in the column.
From here the vapour travels up and passes through the botanicals held in wire baskets where they are able to impart their natural oils. Finally the vapour condenses and collects to give a long and lingering, yet smooth mouthful with each sip.
Tides Fortune Gin Discover the riches Coast
Along with our big boy, Monty, we use two storage tanks – Withnail and Marwood (can you tell what our favourite film is?!) – these allow us to distill in small batches and to develop new recipes. We take our time and do everything by hand, from foraging and picking our local botanicals to filling, labelling and hand stamping each bottle so you can see which one of us got the final job of sealing the bottle with the beautiful neck label.
If you would like to work with us to develop a gin for you – maybe to mark a wedding day or a landmark event for you or your business – then please do get in touch.
What goes into our gin
We knew from the very start that we wanted to use some local botanicals, infusing our gin with the fortune of the east coast. But where to begin.
We are lucky that the hedgerows and shoreline around our distillery are rich with wonderful inspiration. For our signature gin – Tide’s Fortune – we knew we wanted to use the amazing Sea Buckthorn which grows wild on the sandy beaches nearby and is also farmed just a stones throw from the distillery. With this as our starting point we created our recipe. Here are some of the botanicals that we use:
- Common JuniperThe one essential ingredient of all gin. Without them, a spirit just isn’t gin. It is the juniper berries that give you the slightly green and lightly pine nose and flavour.
- Sea BuckthornThis grows along much of the east coast, but beware if you try to pick it. Its barbed wire like branches protect the wonderfully orange juicy berries. The ancient Greeks used the pulp to apply to sunburn but we use it to provide the next wave of flavour – a citrusy sweet undertone.
- Sea PurslaneAgain this carpets much of the coastline especially the muddy coastal inlets around north Essex. Its plump silver leaves carpet the area around the distillery. Nicholas Culpeper, the famous 17th century botanist highlighted the interesting properties of sea purslane as having the ability to cool the outrageous Lust of the Body, Venerious Dreams and the like. Whilst we can’t confirm this it does add a lovely minerally layer to the gin, and compliments the heat of some of the more traditional botanicals that you would expect to find in a London Dry Gin.
Tide’s Fortune Essex Dry Gin
Tide’s Fortune is a Dry Gin crafted in small batches and infused with a range of traditional botanicals including whole juniper berries alongside the very best in local coastal botanicals.
The Sea Buckthorn adds a piquant citrus taste and the locally foraged Sea Purslane really captures the spirit of the sea.
70cl – (40% ABV)
£39.00
Tides Fortune Gin Discover the riches Coast / Essex Dry Gin
Tasting Notes
A grown-up gin for gin lovers with a fragrant juniper nose. Our take on the classic London Dry Gin with the addition of locally sourced, coastal Sea Buckthorn and Sea Purslane, alongside other traditional botanicals to create a smooth citrus piquancy moving into a warming anise flavour with a long, lingering smokiness on the palate.
Perfect Serve
Tide’s Fortune is great on its own, but it doesn’t mind company.
Not used to drinking gin neat. Trust us, give it a try.
Have it simply served over a little ice with a sliver of lemon. The ice elevates the piquancy of the Sea Buckthorn allowing that citrus hit to linger a little longer before leaving a warming smokiness on the palate.
If you’re a G&T lover start with a dash of good quality tonic and build your way up until you reach that perfect point. We recommend Merchant’s Heart Tonic as we love the way it complements our gin, never overwhelming its flavours.
Tide’s Fortune Elder Pear Dry Gin
Just like Tide’s Fortune Essex Dry, Elder Pear is a classic London dry gin, which makes the most of locally sourced and foraged botanicals, marrying perfectly with some more exotic flavours from further afield.
We roast the pears to release the natural sweetness before popping those into Monty, our beautiful still. The remaining botanicals including foraged alexanders and dried elderflower are vapour infused during the process.
70cl – (40% ABV)
£39.00
Tides Fortune Gin Discover the riches Coast / Elder Pear Dry
Tasting Notes
Our Elder Pear Dry delivers the smooth ripeness of mellow pear with elderflower and citrus notes, and a fruity warming sweetness to finish.
Jake’s Poached Rhubarb & Ginger Gin Liqueur
Jake’s Poached Rhubarb and Ginger Liqueur builds on a base gin including rhubarb, juniper, vanilla, orange blossom, rose and hibiscus before being steeped with local Essex rhubarb, juice and ginger. We then add just the right amount of sugar to turn it into a liqueur.
It is delicious, neat with ice; as a long drink paired with some ginger ale
50cl – (27% ABV)
£28.00
Tides Fortune Gin Discover the riches Coast / Rhubarb & Ginger Gin
Plum & I- A Plum Gin Celebration
A very special gin, distilled for King Charles III’s coronation using roasted plums.
A sweet fruity nose leads into complex spring floral notes and a lingering creamy mouthfeel.
Serve over ice with Fever Tree Aromatic Tonic or if you like it a bit sweeter, Barn Farm Lemonade Presse.
A gin fit for a king? You can be the judge of that, but we think it’s rather lovely.
Vivat Rex
50cl – (40% ABV)
£30.00
Tides Fortune Gin Discover the riches Coast / A plum Gin Celebration
Making Time Hedgerow Gin Liqueur
Using a specially distilled base including juniper, thyme, rosehips and orange peel, we then added locally foraged (by our lovely customers and friends) bullaces, sloes, damsons, blackberries, elderberries and rosehips. These are left to soak for a couple of months before being filtered and having sugar added. The result is a beautiful, slightly sweet gin liqueur.
50cl – (22% ABV)
£28.00
Tides Fortune Gin Discover the riches Coast / Making Time Hedgerow Gin Liquer
Marwood’s Coffee Vodka Liqueur
We think our second batch of this incredibly smooth liqueur is even better than the first. Made from a vodka base distilled with coffee and chocolate then cut with locally roasted cold brew coffee from Professor Bean. We then add just the right amount of sugar to get the perfect level of sweetness.
Perfect for Espresso Martinis.
50cl – (22% ABV)
£28.00
Tides Fortune Gin Discover the riches Coast / Coffee Vodka Liquer
Cork it. Cask Aged Gin 500 Day Edition
A specially distilled fruity gin is left to age in a Rioja barrel for 500 days. Juniper and layers of aged wine are intertwined with notes of red berries, oak, vanilla, subtle hints of spice and caramel.
50cl – (41% ABV)
£32.00
Tides Fortune Gin Discover the riches Coast / Cask Aged Gin
Miss Blennerhassett’s Afternoon Tea Gin
Using a specially distilled base including juniper, vanilla, rose petals, hibiscus, strawberry and orange blossom, this is then cut down to 42% using purified strawberry and raspberry juices from local fruit farmers DC Williamson. We then add a small amount of sugar, the result is a beautifully sweet gin with jammy notes. Perfect on its own or with a good mixer for a refreshing long drink.
50cl – (42% ABV)
£32.00
Tides Fortune Gin Discover the riches Coast / Afternoon Tea
Make your own gin classes
£110.00
Join us at Landermere for a “Make Your Own Gin Class”
You and your guest(s) will be greeted with a lovely G&T. (soft drinks available for drivers)
We’ll then show you around, give you a little taste of our gins and talk you through what goes into them.
Then we’ll get on to making your gin, giving you guidance on the process, what botanicals to use and how much you need.
Then it’s over to you. You’ll pick and weigh your botanicals, add them to the still and after distillation help with testing and cutting. Then you just need to label and it’s ready to take home.
Tides Fortune Gin Discover the riches Coast / Gin Tour
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