Reed & Co and Billy Button team up on refreshing North East gin

This month Bright craft gin distillery Reed & Co and Alpine Valleys winery Billy Button teamed up for the second release of their Spirit Lab Gin & Juice and Spirit Lab Mistelle.

After the sell-out success of Reed & Co's Spirit Lab Gin & Juice and Mistelle 2020 vintage, which salvaged smoke-tainted grapes from the North East, this year's milder growing season produced the best vintage in years.

Reed & Co distiller Hamish Nugent said each season gave producers the chance to be innovative.

"The spirits created with Jo and Glenn from Billy Button is a great example of how we form true collaborations, utilising produce and joint expertise to formulate something uniquely North East," he said.

Reed & Co owner Rachel Reed believed this year was the best vintage yet.

"We had a great product last year, but this year we didn't have the same challenges of smoke-tainted grapes," she said.

"This enabled us to ferment the grapes, resulting in a balanced finish with a refined flavour and depth."

Billy Button winemaker Jo Marsh said Rachel and Hamish had a refreshing perspective.

"These innovative beverages really push the boundaries of what you can do with grapes," she said.

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Unlike most fruit gins, Spirit Lab Gin & Juice incorporates a number of distillation and fermentation techniques to accentuate the flavour profile of each ingredient.

The Japanese inspired gin starts with botanicals sourced from North East.

The boldest botanicals are macerated and distilled in a traditional copper pot still, before delicate botanicals such as yuzu, green tea and shiso are cold distilled, and spice accents such as ginger are vapour distilled.

Sourced from Billy Button, the juice is made of Gewurztraminer grapes from the King Valley.

The grapes go through a two-stage fermentation to intensify their depth before blending with the gin.

The final spirit is preservative-free and unfiltered to maximise the flavour retention.

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