Mezcal and brandy on offer at The Wine & Spirits Show

When The Wine & Spirits Show returns to London next week, a variety of award-winning brands from around the world will be available to taste at the Global Spirits Masters Zone.

Taste Fatty’s Organic Gin at The Wine & Spirits Show next week

Returning to The Royal Horseguards Hotel in London, The Wine & Spirits Show will take place on 12 and 13 April as part of a collaboration between The Spirits Business and the drinks business teams.

Over the course of the two days, the event will bring leading wine and spirits brands together for an exciting programme of discussions, tastings and learning.

In the spirits hall, there will be a Global Masters Spirits Zone, where visitors can taste award-winning expressions from the Global Spirits Masters – a series of blind-tasting competitions assessed by completely independent and expert judges.

The area will be manned by some of the judges behind the competition, who can take visitors through the various expressions and tasting processes.

Products already confirmed include Aluna Coconut rum, Scotland’s Orkney Gin Company Johnsmas and Cornish-based distillery Pocketful of Stones’ Mutiny Bitters, Caspyn Dry Gin, Morveren Absinthe, Ron Izalco – 10 Year Central American Blend rum, Diablesse Caribbean Rum, and Meanie Absinthe.

French drinks group La Martiniquaise/Bardinet will also offer its award-winning Brandy Bardinet XO, Brandy Bardinet VSOP, Beehive VSOP and Beehive XO.

In addition to these products, Master-winning Mezcal Amores Espadin Reposado will be available to sample at the show. Bottled at 37% abv, the expression has been aged for three months in white oak barrels.

During SB’s Tequila & Mezcal Masters, judges praised the “round and creamy” mezcal, which was said to balance flavours of “soft peach and apricot with gentle smoke and sweet spices”.

Returning to this year’s show is English brand Fatty’s Organic Gin, which will be on display at the Global Spirits Masters Zone and the Gin and Tonic Bar.

Fatty’s Organic Gin is inspired by founder Philippa Gee’s hometown of Dulwich. The gin features dill as a key botanical – Dulwich means ‘the meadow where dill grows’.

Also available to taste is Gold medallist Ladismith Cape Brandy, which impressed judges in the Cognac & Brandy Masters with its “elegant” liquid, “vanilla” aromas and “tropical and wood” notes on the palate.

The expression is produced with grapes from the Klein Karoo region on the Cape South Coast of South Africa. The wine is then double-distilled in a pot still and aged in small oak barrels for a minimum of eight years. When it is deemed ready, the final blend is released in limited quantities of 1000 bottles per year.

New to the show is Chalong Bay Pure Series rum from Thai producer Chalong Bay Distillery. The rum is made from 100% natural first-press sugarcane in partnership with local Thai farmers. It is handmade in small batches using traditional distillation processes and an imported French copper still.

For a full schedule of the free-to-attend masterclasses, which includes seminars on Tequila, mezcal, Cognac and Scotch whisky, click here.