You may know Henrick’s for their Gin, but the brand has now utilised their stills to make something a little different. Yes, Henrick’s have made Absinthe.
Hang on … before you get too excited, it seems that in this first batch of Absinthe, there have only been 4,000 bottles produced and these will only be available to UK bartenders. But take heart, the brand has said that this may change in the future.
So why did a brand known so well for creating their “most unusual gin”, suddenly decide to spend time reimagining a completely different spirit?
Well, it seems Henrick’s head distiller Leslie Grace has been experimenting at for several years with the spirit that she believes has very similar qualities to gin, even with the use of very different botanicals.
In case you are curious, those botanicals are star anise and wormwood (both very traditional absinthe botanicals) as well as juniper, yarrow and orange.
Grace told thespiritbusiness.com, “For me, star anise has always had star quality. I’ve been playing with its magical flavours in the background for years and felt there is now enough curiosity and desire to explore new dimensions within drinks to release our absinthe experiment to the world.
“I’ve added the rose and cucumber we put into Hendrick’s gin – the rose adds a floral element and the cucumber a fresh dimension, which you don’t necessarily expect from an absinthe.”
Now while Hendrick’s reimagining of Absinthe is believed to have made the spirit far more approachable and mixable, they have bottled their expression with a fairly strong 48%ABV. It is subtle. In flavour and thankfully, comes without the traditional green fairy colour.
Now while Absinthe doesn’t have much regulation around its production, many have labelled Hendrick’s version as more of a botanical spirit (mainly, we assume, as it is too subtle to effectively be used in an traditional Absinthe drip serve).
Ally Martin, global brand ambassador for Hendrick’s told imbibe.com that cocktails are the main focus. “I imagine it in classics like a Corpse Reviver, with the absinth replacing the gin.
“The central star anise flavour in Hendrick’s Absinthe provides plenty of scope to create beautifully balanced cocktails and you can push it down a citrus, floral or spicy route – it is really versatile. We’re looking forward to seeing what our friends in the trade can concoct with this liquid.”
So if you are in the UK, it seems it would be well worth your while to pop along to a cocktail bar and ask if they have the magic elixer and ask them to make you something reimagined.
