Granny Garbutt’s Gin review – an inter-generational experience

Uniting the uplands of Devon and North Yorkshire, Granny Garbutt’s is a wildflower influenced traditional London Dry type gin formulated by a family in tribute to their much loved grandmother, who we hear lived life to the full from when she entered the world, in the same year the sometimes scandalous Queen Victoria departed.

Part of the Exeter Gin enterprise, the makers assemble no less than 14 botanicals for the ‘one-shot’ process carried out in a conventional copper still they christened Isabelle after the Garbutt clan’s matriarch; though with Dartmoor wildflower organic honey being numbered amongst them, there could arguably be dozens more present.

The strongest floral notes are offered by the locally foraged gorse and heather, together with hibiscus and marigold flowers.  Then English coriander, angelica and orris root add spiciness and other dimensions; all married with the Macedonian juniper.

The distillers describe the results as being “Elegant and well balanced” though possibly not tasting quite as strong as some other 42^% London Dry gins – such as the even saucier King of Soho – which we’ve sampled in the past.  However, for anyone who might feel under fortified by the experience, there is a Navy Strength version in the same stable, bearing the ominous name of Grandad’s Revenge.  Don’t say you weren’t warned.

We picked up our bottle of Granny Garbutt’s for £39 in a friendly newsagents not far from Teignmouth seafront and only a short drive from the port’s appropriately named Broadmeadow Industrial Estate where the spirit is produced.  And enjoyed our first taste of it staying there in a holiday apartment we’d rented, looking out at the cruise ships sitting out the pandemic in the bay.

The recommended serve is grapefruit and regular Fever Tree or Luscombe tonic, while the makers also suggest adding strawberries and blueberries – sliced to infuse the spirt – for a longer drink.  We also found it was lovely to sip neat.

This tasty tipple can also be found on Amazon and eBay.