And now for some-gin completely different …
The humble wooden framed deck chair conjures many images, from men with knotted handkerchiefs on their heads to bawdy British holiday postcards; and bubbly bathing belles taking a breather after a frolic in the surf. But to these I now have to add a small batch gin from close by on the Devon coast.
Deck Chair Gin is a 44% distillation produced in premises at Brixham, one of the remaining strongholds for the UK’s fishing industry, and part of an area from where we have reported on a variety of small batch spirits including: Salcombe, Black Dog and Ten Tors Seasonal Gin.
To be totally honest we didn’t find Deck Chair to be as distinctive as any of the above, though it did make for a very pleasant sundowner to be enjoyed on our own garden furniture, as evening lengthened on the decking.
“The seven botanicals would seem to include a strong presence of orange peel and probably angelica: offering a mild sweetness along with the moderately strong juniper flavour”.
In terms of a serve, the makers say it can be enjoyed neat or drunk with tonic over ice and ‘a slice of ruby’ – though for regular readers we should point out that they mean ruby grapefruit, not the exotic dancer featured in our recent Ruby of Rangoon review.
Local support seems to be strong with the website listing a score of seaside venues – from Brixham’s Breakwater Bistro to The Cavern on the Quay at Torquay offering it for sale.
“Grockles who get a taste for Deck Chair can buy it all year round from Regency Wines”.
While this hasn’t made it onto our favourites list, I would happily try Deck Chair again if it appears on the bar at Bovey Tracey’s Dartmoor Whisky Distillery. Followers will probably know that our taste in gin tends to be for fuller stronger flavoured, possibly hard core concoctions, while Deck Chair is probably more of a sun lounger softie.
