Following the seasons

Working with nature is important to us. We pick in season and either use immediately or fast freeze fruit to lock in the flavour. That way, we can offer our core flavours year round. There’s nothing nicer than sampling Raspberry Vodka when the garden is full of raspberries, or Blackberry Liqueur when the hedgerows are bursting with dark juicy blackberries.

But for some of our flavours, that doesn’t work so well. Our Seville Orange Gin is made in January when the bitter marmalade oranges are in season. We make a batch and when it’s gone, it’s gone til next January. Freezing oranges doesn’t work so well!

It’s nearly time to start picking elderflowers. Last year we made our first batch of Elderflower Gin and it sold out in three days - so we made more. Our lovely friend Lizzie picked some local elderflowers in the hedgerows around her home town of Brecon. We used those to make a special edition Brecon Elderflower Gin which we took to Abergavenny Food Festival. It went down a storm and we sold out pretty quickly. Buoyed by the success of the gin, we also made some Elderflower Vodka and that disappeared pretty quickly too, so we’ll be making extra this year. But Elderflowers don’t freeze very well either! So when it’s gone, it’s gone!

Spring is here and summer is fast approaching so we will be spending the summer picking raspberries, strawberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants and gooseberries and anything else that catches our eye. It’s so nice to be out in the fresh air picking nature’s bounty.