Tintagel, Cornwall, UK
Wrecking Coast Gin Fine Dynamic Spirits
The People
INSIDE THE SHED – AVIAN SANDERCOCK
Minder of the stills, conductor of experiments, flavour obsessive and chief geek. If you have drunk anything made by Wrecking Coast, you have Avian to thank for pressing the buttons, pulling the levers, shovelling ingredients, and probably for putting it in the bottle. He’s the one who’s slaved over a hot still to create the recipes for Wrecking Coast’s spirits, and he continues to tinker with them, in search of the next tasty thing.
OUTSIDE THE SHED – CRAIG PENN
Head salesman, arbiter of design, one-man online team and chief taste-tester. If you have held a bottle from Wrecking Coast in your hands, then you have Craig to thank for both how it looks and for extracting it from the Cornish countryside and getting it to you. When you drop the team a line or ping them a message on Facebook or anywhere else online, it’s Craig who’s behind the keyboard making sure you get the information you need.
IN THE BEGINNING
Buddies Avian and Craig have dabbled in drinks for years, although from the drinking side of the bar. Having lost his taste for beer, Craig turned to spirits, becoming a whiskey devotee. Avian soon joined him and, being analytical sorts, they spent many evenings carefully examining spirits to find out their favourites.
However, whiskey was temporarily put to one side when they discovered the world of craft gin. A pre-rugby match gin and tonic became the start of extensive gin research, as they turned their attentions to pulling apart the flavours in as many gins as they could, searching for their perfect bottle.
By this time, Avian had escaped from London and moved to Tintagel in Cornwall. Craig was still in North London and, having left the world of marketing, was looking for a new project. Travelling back and forth they continued to dig into the world of gin.
After one especially in-depth weekend of research, still without finding the elusive perfect bottle, Anita and Claire – Craig and Avian’s wives – challenged them to stop playing and actually get out and make the gin they wanted.
A few weeks later, a business plan, of sorts, was written.
MAKING GIN
Moving into the garage underneath a bakery in Tintagel, down the road from Avian’s house, they bought their first still and began to experiment. The plan was simple: bring together the flavours they loved in gin and make something they wanted to drink. Finally, after much taste-testing, and feedback and unexpected distilling advice from drinkers in the local pub, Wrecking Coast Clotted Cream Gin was born.
Growing slowly, they moved from the bakery to a long and thin room in nearby Delabole. When they outgrew that, they moved again to a bigger building, what is now The Wrecking Coast Distillery in Camelford. Once part of a chemical production facility, it still has a lab, where Avian continues to experiment, as well as more stills than before, a bottling line and some oak casks full of interesting spirits…
WHAT’S NEXT?
While gin had taken over their lives, whiskey was not far from Craig and Avian’s minds – still a tipple of choice when not drinking gin, they realised that maybe they could use their approach to creating a gin they liked, to whiskey.
With whiskey as an end goal, they started to experiment, developing the parts of the process they would need to get there, years down in the future.
First, they turned to brewing and rather diving straight into using grain, the base for whiskey, they went with something a bit simpler – sugar cane. First using richly flavoured Muscovado Spirit sugar and then dark and sticky molasses, they brewed and distilled a Muscovado Spirit and a rum. Breaking down the flavours produced and how they could be selected and concentrated through distillation started laying the groundwork for making their own grain spirit, and eventually whiskey.
Next they began to look at maturation – key to allowing whiskey to develop from a raw and unrefined new-make spirit or White Dog into the elegant and complex drink that Craig and Avian wanted to create. Adding pieces of wood to small batches of Muscovado Spirit and rum, led to filling small casks, and then larger casks, building on the knowledge gained as they scaled up. With the principles and logistics in place, it was time to plan the next step – actually making whiskey.
CLOTTED CREAM GIN 35CL
£37.95
The Wrecking Coast’s flagship gin, first distilled under a bakery in Tintagel. Its recipe is pepped up with a less common ingredient that’s one of Cornwall’s largest and most popular exports – clotted cream – cold distilled and combined with 12 traditional gin botanicals. The gin is not flavoured by the clotted cream, but it instead helps to amplify the botanicals and creates the rich texture of the spirit. The result is rich, oily and packed with ginny flavour.
BOTTLE SIZES
70cl, 35cl, 5cl
ABV
44%
TASTING NOTES
A rich gin that makes a spicy, citrus-forward Martini, or a classic gin & tonic. A gin shaped by clotted cream, not flavoured by it.
NOSE
Spicy and piney, with lots of juniper to start. There’s a touch of creamy butter in the background, with leafy pine needles joined by sweet liquorice, candied lemons and a soft floral grassiness.
PALATE
Sweet and spicy – spiced cake batter, rich with butter and freshly mixed. A squeeze of lemon cuts through the richness, followed by green leaves and a burst of peppery tarragon. Crunchy browning leaves and brown sugar round things out.
FINISH
Green leaves and piney juniper fade to leave soft spice.
WRECKING COAST SUMMER STRAWBERRY GIN
£37.95
A special edition, created for the summer and packed with the most summery of fruit: strawberries. After long experimentation, we have created a gin that’s run through with strawberry flavour as well as spicy juniper and sweet citrus. It’s all achieved through careful distillation, with no added sweeteners or flavourings, although we do add a touch of natural colouring to give the gin its flavour-enhancing pink hue – you may drink with your mouth, but you take your first taste with your eyes.
BODDINGTON’S BERRIES
Established in the 1940s as a market garden, Boddington’s Berries is now run by the third generation of the family and their strawberries are now accredits as ‘Product of Cornwall’.
Boddington’s now grow strawberries in three different areas (outdoors and under different types of cover) for the fresh fruit market – with fruit available from the end of April through to the end of July.
It is from these fresh strawberries that our Summer Strawberry Gin is made.
BOTTLE SIZES
70cl
ABV
37.5%
£37.95
TASTING NOTES
A sweet but unsweetened gin that shows what you can do if you spend a long time playing with strawberries. It’s great with lemonade or elderflower tonic, or even just with a splash of soda. Make sure you garnish with a fistful of strawberries for a huge hit of summer, no matter how much it’s raining outside.
NOSE
White chocolate, freshly sliced strawberries and cream – a liquid Eton mess. Spicy juniper breaks through the meringue with a lemon tart in tow, complete with buttery biscuit base: a summer sweet trolley. Gentle notes of meadow flowers and elderflower cordial develop.
PALATE
Soft and creamy strawberry mousse leads, quickly followed by peppery juniper and freshly cracked black pepper. Layers of citrus pith and peel support the strawberries, with musky spice slowly building from underneath.
FINISH
Juniper dominates, softened by hints of creamy strawberry cheesecake and sweetened whipped cream.
HONEY SLOE GIN LIQUEUR
Everyone has their own recipe for sloe gin, but this one’s ours, and it’s a sweet and spicy combination of gin, sloes, spice and honey. We start out with a specially made gin that’s packed with citrus and spicy juniper, before adding the sloes and spice, and leaving everyone to get to know each other – a process that takes at least three months. A month before bottling, we start gradually adding sweetness, using honey to amplify the fruitiness of the sloes without hiding their tart character.
BOTTLE SIZES
50cl
ABV
34.5%
£30.95
TASTING NOTES
Far from your average sloe gin, with the honey and spice providing a rich and complex backbone for the sweet and sour berry notes of the sloes. Equally at home in a hipflask on a cold day or served in an icy spritz at the height of summer – whenever you need spicy and fruity berries, our Honey Sloe Gin has you covered.
NOSE
Spiced berry compote: cherries and plums with a dusting of cinnamon and nutmeg. Sticky red berries dominate, but they’re not quite powerful enough to hide the piney and citrusy gin or its gentle earthiness.
PALATE
Thick and rich with a balanced sweet and sour berry character. A spiced-honey backdrop is painted over with layers of cherries, plums, and tart berries, with hints of cherry menthol and dark chocolate developing as it sits in the glass.
FINISH
Sticky cherry and a hint of menthol fade to leave lingering pine.
HELI-GIN
A special gin made with helicopters in mind – both the life savers of the Cornwall Air Ambulance and the more green and floaty variety: the twirling seeds (leaves) of the sycamore tree. The gin’s botanicals are a balance of spicy and citrusy, with sycamore bark adding a dark and earthy dimension to the mix. Every bottle is not only full of tasty gin, but also includes a donation to the Cornish Air Ambulance, helping them fly more than 800 missions a year.
www.cornwallairambulancetrust.org
Registered Charity No. 1133295
Company No. 07085879
BOTTLE SIZES
70cl
ABV
40%
£33.95
TASTING NOTES
A herbal and grassy gin that balances out the sweetness of tonic water to create a leafy, spicy and complex G&T, and all for an excellent cause.
NOSE
Earthy and woody, with freshly crushed juniper – just before it bursts into citrus freshness – joined by forest floor earthiness. Citrus slowly builds: spiced orange and bright, zesty lemons. Finally, the juniper reappears, hovering above with gentle pine and peppery spice.
PALATE
Dark, rich and earthy juniper notes are lightened by flashes of bright citrus – lemon zest and expressed orange peel. Green and leafy hints are balanced by woody notes as black pepper and juniper spice grow.
FINISH
Citrus pith and peel linger, dusted with sweet spice.
THE AGEING PROJECT
Wrecking Coast Rye is here. The first casks of Cornish rye have been laid down, and the German inspiration is available for you to taste while it develops.
But it doesn’t end there.
Over the coming months and years, experiments will continue. Casks of rum and Muscovado Spirit are getting ready for bottling, and we have German rye back in wood, giving us insight into how our own rye will develop down the line.
Join us on the journey to our own Wrecking Coast Rye as we develop new spirits and see how ageing changes the flavours we create when we brew and distil. The Wrecking Coast Ageing project is in full swing and we have a whole host of surprises up our sleeves.
What would a German rye whiskey finished in a Cornish rum cask taste like…?
NOT OURS, BUT STILL OURS
We don’t claim to be doing anything new at The Wrecking Coast Distillery. What we are doing is taking the knowledge of drinks makers from around the world over the centuries and bringing it all together in ways that will let us create something that’s uniquely ours.
We aren’t the only people making spirits, but we are the only ones making OUR spirits.
Whether it’s the whiskey that has inspired us to make our own – distilled in Germany and then further developed at The Wrecking Coast Distillery – or our own Wrecking Coast Clotted Cream Gin – first created in the basement under a bakery in Tintagel – everything we make is unique to us and has one thing in common: they’re what we want to drink.
THE AGEING EXPERIMENTS
AUGUST 2021
INSPIRATIONAL RYE
The starting point – we were looking for a rye that had the flavours we wanted to make, so we had a benchmark to start from. This rye has that balance of sweetness and spice, with some extra depth from its time finishing in sherry casks. The perfect inspiration for our own whiskey.
OCTOBER 2021
BOURBON-FINISHED RYE
The Bourbon Sandwich – our rye has spent time in a sherry cask but how will it change with some more time in a bourbon cask, this time in Cornwall, like our own rye will be matured in the future?
CORNISH CYDER BRANDY
Waste nothing – when our friends at Polgoon, makers of great cider and wine, told us about a batch of their artisan cider that didn’t quite have the profile they wanted, we jumped at the chance to turn it into something special.
A small test distillation showed that the cider made excellent spirit, and we started full production: 2,500 litres of cider, double distilled to produce just 200 litres of spirit. It came off the still at 56% ABV, relatively low strength and packed with flavour, and we reduced it to 50% before ageing in ex-bourbon casks for 7 months.
We then transferred the brandy to a stainless-steel tank to allow it to rest while we slowly brought the strength down to 40% – our perfect drinking strength – with Cornish spring water. It has been bottled with no further messing about, a pure expression of Polgoon’s orchards.
‘BLOODY’ HONEY SLOE
INGREDIENTS
50ml Honey Sloe Gin
Sliced fresh Blood Orange
SERVE
Low ball
METHOD
Build over ice in the glass, add blood Orange slice as garnish
CREATOR
Tomáš Čistÿ
BAR
12 Hay Hill
HELI-GIN AND TONIC (H & T)
INGREDIENTS
50ml Wrecking Coast Heli-Gin
Premium Indian Tonic Water
SERVE
Balloon Glass
METHOD
Add ice to the glass and pour Wrecking Coast Heli-Gin and Premium Indian Tonic Water.
GARNISH
Slices of lemon and lime
Juniper berries optional
CREATOR
Tomáš Čistÿ – Wrecking Coast Brand Ambassador
BAR
12 Hay Hill
CORNERSTONE & TONIC
INGREDIENTS
50ml Cornerstone Rare Cornish Gin
Light Premium Tonic
SERVE
Collins glass
METHOD
Ice in the glass then pour Cornerstone Rare Cornish Gin, squeeze two and top with a light Premium Tonic Water.
GARNISH
Sliced apple and fresh mint
CREATOR
Tomáš Čistÿ – Wrecking Coast Brand Ambassador
BAR
12 Hay Hill
