Williams Great British Gin with The Age of Uncertainty

Chase are an interesting distillery (I'm told they do an excellent tour if your ever in Herefordshire). The story goes something like this, William Chase started as a potato farmer who wanted more out of what he was doing, so he founded Tyrells crisps, and then somewhere along the line started thinking about vodka - it's the other obvious thing to do with potatoes. From vodka it's but a small step to gin (vodka is basically a neutral spirit, gin is what happens when you flavour it with juniper and a few other choice botanicals) and they've created some really interesting ones. My favourite of these might actually be the Seville orange gin, but the Great British Extra Dry gives it a close run.

The Chase philosophy is a 'from field to bottle' one, these are single estate products (not really a concept that gin is associated with) with impeccable provenance. They have the Chase name all over them, which rightly demonstrates a pride in the product - drinking it shows that that pride is fully justified.

GB is a classic gin (lots of juniper, a nice hint of spice, as dry as you like) which makes a particularly satisfying G&T. Potato based vodkas have a creaminess about the mouthfeel that's quite distinctive, and whilst I'm not claiming I can detect that in this potato based gin I like to think it's there in the smoothness of the spirit and something about the way the botanicals work in it.

I'd been trying to think of just the right book to go with GB for a while when I read this - I've been following The Age of Uncertainty since I started blogging, 7 years ago, and I'm going to miss it. Happily I can still follow its creator on Instagram and Twitter, and hope that he finds something he wants to write about and share again.

Until that time it seems fitting to raise a glass to toast what has been a stand out blog - and one that I think reflects the excellent qualities of the gin (though I make no claims for it being especially junipery). It's not precisely a book recommendation, but it is a bookseller recommendation.