A Yorkshire gin company claims that gin is now more typically Yorkshire than whippets and flat caps.
York Gin – one of the nearly 100 gin distilleries in the county – made the claim after winning a prestigious gold medal at an international spirits competition.
Their York Gin Old Tom won a Gold Outstanding medal with a score of 98/100 at this summer’s International Wine and Spirit Competition (IWSC) – known as the Oscars of the drinking world.
Director Pete McNichol said: “700 international gins entered the competition. Only 6 won a Gold Outstanding – and our Old Tom and another Yorkshire Gin, Masons Tea Edition, were the only English gins to win. Gin is now more Yorkshire than whippets!”
McNichol added: “Yorkshire gins are winning accolades all over the place. Our York Gin Outlaw won a Double Gold at the prestigious San Francisco World Spirits Competition earlier this year.
“Our friends at Whitby Gin won Best London Dry at the World Gin Awards earlier this year. And Masons and Slingsby’s awards shelves are full to the brim.”
He added that the company’s shop just off the historic shambles in York is one of the most dog-friendly places in the city.
“We run a #yorkgindogs game on social media – we take photos of any camera-happy dogs and publish them to our tens of thousands of fans
“But we’ve only had three whippets since we opened in March. Plenty of spaniels, labradoodles, cockapoos. And loads of dachshunds. But only three whippets!”
“And we can’t remember seeing a single flat cap on any of our customers’ heads – plenty of baseball caps and the odd top hat. But no flat caps. Things are changing – and gin is more Yorkshire than whippets and flat caps!”
York Gin’s award-winning Old Tom is a collaboration with top Yorkshire chef Andrew Pern who used Yorkshire Rose (Dog Rose) in the concoction that’s added to the gin. The Masons Tea Edition uses Yorkshire Tea from Taylors of Harrogate as one of its botanicals.
