LoneWolf London Dry Gin 70cl 40% ABV - Made by BrewDog Distilling Co in Scotland - Lavender and Citrus Notes with a Fierce Juniper Backbone

Product Information

First impressions are of a strong grapefruit peel aroma mixed with pine, but hold it under your nose for a while and there’s also an underlying complexity. It’s not a specific undertone, more like a set of eyes fixing you from the horizon, too far to discern, too close to ignore. Furthermore, while they may go from grain to glass, so too do William Chase, Adnams, Copper Rivet, Arbike, Dog House and many more. Their process gives them authenticity to command attention and respect, but this does not make them a lone producer, beyond reproach and with the right to cast judgement without expecting to alienate many potential fans as they do so. We don’t want to rest on the laurels of a location, like so many within the industry. Flexibility is vitally important to us, and the Lone Wolf distillery will have experimentation at its heart. With the pilot still we can produce a huge range of potential spirits, and with our epic barrel store we can age and then blend the results to allow a fascinating range of flavours to develop. On one branch, the unhurried world of whisky, playing off location and sentiment to maintain the Status Quo. On the other, sleight of hand rules the roost as the surge of gin and vodka is underpinned by those who bulk-buy industrial alcohol and have the temerity to add botanicals and label it ‘craft’. LoneWolf spirits are a beacon shining into the reaches of the spirits industry, taking on the incumbents at every turn. Unrelenting craft in a world of compromise. These brand new prototypes are an exclusive for our card-carrying Equity Punks (stand by your inboxes, shareholders!). Lone Wolf will be unleashed fully in early 2017.

Lone Wolf was one of the most hotly anticipated launches of the year, but since its launch in May 2017 it has remained a shadowy figure of the night, quietly growing in stature and confidence, but not quite revealing all. Yet.It’s remarkably different to the V1 & V2 prototype gins the brand released in the months preceding the launch, but it’s clear to see the thought process that’s gone in from them to this final outcome and overall- it’s a really well assembled Gin. As a flavour structure it has been distilled perfectly to deliver the three main elements, which are all clear and present, arrive in deliberate succession and have a graceful clarity when they do. The secondary citrus elements ( coriander seed, lemongrass, kaffir) help add some levity towards the finish, which would otherwise be like getting lashed by pine, while elements like mace, cardamom and pink peppercorns add a little complexity throughout. It’s nice to see almonds being used to add some weight to the mouthfeel too. Once everything is online and all systems are go, we will become the only craft distillery in Scotland to make our base spirit from grain, under one roof. This is hugely important to us – and it starts with our BrewDog vodka. We've removed a section of our brewhouse roof and installed a colossal 19m high 60-plate rectification column, to get the purest, cleanest spirit possible. The craft spirit is infused with juicy white peach, sweet passionfruit and a hint of yuzu (a hybrid of lemon and mandarin) – ideal for creating thirst-quenching tipples, no doubt! Installation of our distillery is happening right now, and following tests of everything from the operational side to the water we will be using, we hope to be ready to produce our first batches of BrewDog spirit at the start of April. Equity Punks, if you’re attending the AGM on the 9th you may well get to try some highly exclusive trial batches! (We’ll say no more for now).

The spirit begins with a mix of 50% wheat and 50% barley that spends 4 to 5 days fermenting. The team’s experience as brewers doesn’t just comes handy here, but is obvious in each element of the production of their wash, in that they even use a bespoke BrewDog yeast to create the desired alcohol and flavour combination.

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Once the base spirit has been made, the gin begins with a combination of botanicals being steeped for some time ahead of distillation, while others are added in just before the heating begins. The botanicals named are mace, pink pepper, kaffir leaves, grapefruit peel, lemon peel, orris, almond, lemongrass and pine needles (alongside juniper and coriander seed). Given the complexities of brewing, fermenting and distilling are highly technical - if making the gin sounds like the easy part of the process, think again… Around 190 distillations were tested in the creation of this gin, each one trialling botanical variation and refining both the selection and how each botanical came together. All of this care and attention delivers a citrus rush – led by grapefruit – almost as distinctive as the St Austell Brewery’s Proper Job ale, but rapidly releases a range of other flavours, including almonds, coriander and cardamom. Like the French QVT gin we covered recently, lavender puts in an aromatic appearance to complement the thrusting Tuscan juniper; all nuanced with pink peppercorns, Angelica and orris root. Kaffir lime, mace and lemongrass add further depths. You will get a bespoke ¼ barrel cask of Lone Wolf whisky – deciding how long we age it for and when it should be bottled, plus you will design and distil your own unique gin and receive four cases. While the team are realistic about long term demand forcing them to scale up production - the gin is currently made via a one shot method using their third still (small for them, but over 400lt in its own right) - one wonders just what a concentrated process might involve, as it takes almost 18 grapefruits per batch as it is!

We’re sure they will find the right answer to scaling up, as they are as uncompromising in their testing of their products as they are in the flavour of them. They use their their sister brewery’s expertise and testing capabilities to evaluate and analyse every element using state of the art equipment that 90% of distilleries do not have in house, from flavour consistency to degradation of compounds through oxidisation… it’s all been looked at, researched, catalogued and mitigated against. Lone Wolf Gin to taste… Our distillation plan is also a key part of our Equity for Punks IV Boosted Benefits, with Spirits fans who invest being guaranteed a tiered level of rewards that money can't buy. The Lone Wolf Founders Club will give such perks as exclusive single-cask whiskies (that will not be available to anyone else), the chance to design, distil and bottle your own unique gin and even age your own entire barrel of Lone Wolf whisky. You will get your very own full barrel cask of Lone Wolf whisky – deciding how long we age it for and when it will be bottled, plus you will design and distil your own unique gin and receive four cases. You’ll receive a limited-edition numbered case of the first vodka and the first gin our Lone Wolf distillery produces. Plus you will receive an exclusive case of single-cask Lone Wolf whisky. Lone Wolf as a distillery set its stall out as being different from the offset. They make their spirits from grain to glass, ensure that they are distinct in their character and produce them on a scale that will make them affordable to all. The scale they are working at incidentally, makes them one of the largest distilleries in the UK, and one of the bigger establishments to have launched in the since Adnam’s made its comparable move to extend from brewing into distilling. When one considers it all in context, however, Lone Wolf is not as large as it might at first appear.This is an urban beach of a gin that will take you on holiday, even though you can’t go on one, just add tonic, ice, and a peach slice.”