‘Shaken not stirred’. An individual who goes by the name Bond would enjoy any of the three Vermouths from Sacred Spirits in one of his famous dry Martinis. The British company has reintroduced the award-winning Vermouths with new bottles and labelling, and they look impressive.
Whether it is a Casino in Monaco or on your sofa watching Casino Royale, a botanical rich Vermouth will improve your night. The three I sampled from Sacred Spirits didn’t have a baddie amongst them.
Sacred Spirits based in London was started by Ian Hart who wanted to reintroduce small batch gin production to the city. He also wanted to modernise the distillation process fully capturing the hand-collected botanicals.
Ian has designed the distilleries to his exacting standards, using bespoke handblown glassware from Yorkshire as an example. He can control the production of premium spirits completely. The handling of ingredients is equally important.
Each specimen from Ian’s organically-sourced library of botanicals is macerated in English wheat spirit for 4–6 weeks to achieve total extraction (100% of flavour and aroma).
These rich extracts are then distilled separately, allowing Ian to experiment with multiple combinations of flavours, before blending to make a Sacred Spirit.
Ian’s first London Dry Gin contained a dozen botanicals, including juniper, cardamom, nutmeg, and frankincense, and set the tone for every future Sacred Spirits expression.
The inclusion of frankincense, Boswellia sacra in Latin, signalled Ian’s intention to create unique spirits, characterised by the depth of flavour and otherworldly aromas. It also gave the brand its name.
The Vermouths
The three Vermouths are English Amber, English Spiced and English Dry, all having different notes, tones, fragrances and so importantly the taste. You could select to sample them by their seasonal ingredients or enjoy them any time of the year they make perfect bases in cocktails. All are made from English white wine sourced from Three Choirs Vineyard.
Cocktails
Keeping the Bond theme with English Amber perfect for a Vesper Martini or just tonic. It has Spanish orange, orris root, Vanilla from Madagascar so is delicious neat.
Wintry ingredients come in the English Spiced with cloves, cinnamon, vanilla, stoned fruits and citrus peel. Ideal for a Manhattan or Negroni.
The English Dry has botanicals of wormwood, thyme, stone fruits, citrus fruits and uses no sugar. Cocktail suggestions an English Buck or just a dry martini.
I had a lovely time drinking the varied Vermouths neat and in cocktails. I watched a few of the Bond films sipping on” A dry Martini, shaken not stirred” You will enjoy them too; however you decide to drink them.
Sacred Spirits – How and Where?
Sacred Spirits won the World’s Best Vermouth awards (Sacred Amber Vermouth, World’s Best Vermouth and Sacred English Dry, World’s Best Extra Dry Vermouth). They recognised the occasion with beautiful new labels also changing to 500ml bottles which are consumer-friendly. For more information, visit their official website at www.sacredgin.com.
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