Toast World Whisky Day with GIN (that's aged in whisky barrels)

Saturday 21st May marked World Whisky Day, and dram lovers across the globe raised a glass to their favourite spirit. But even if you're more of a gin fan, there are still ways to indulge in a bit of whisky appreciation!

As we recently reported, gin distillers are increasingly taking a leaf out of whisky’s book and experimenting with barrel ageing their spirits. In May, Craft Gin Club members were lucky enough to get their hands on some of German distiller Windspiel’s barrel aged Premium Dry Gin Reserve and Barrel Aged Potato Vodka as part of their Gin of the Month boxes.

Now, though, Edinburgh-based craft distiller, Pickering's Gin, has taken the gin/whisky love-in one step further with a new range of gins that have been aged in single malt whisky casks, selected from five of Scotland’s key whisky regions.

Casks from Islay, Speyside, the Lowlands, Islands and the Highlands were taken to Pickering’s Summerhall Distillery, where they were filled with cask strength gin and left to age for between three and six months, which each cask producing just 200 bottles.

The result is unique range of 47% ABV oak aged gin, that brings together Scotland’s two favourite spirits to create something pretty special. It still tastes like gin, but that has a complex finish, reminiscent of whisky, and is best enjoyed like whisky, with just a little water or ice.

Each of the expressions also has its own unique character – from the delicate sweet, citrusy Speyside Cask Aged Gin to the salty, peaty Islay Cask Aged Gin. Here at Craft Gin Club Towers, we particularly loved the Island Cask Aged Gin, which is smoky, slightly spicy and salt, with a hint of vanilla.

Pickering’s co-founder Matt Gammell explained: “As distillers we wanted to take people on a journey exploring both gin and whisky, and to truly test the versatility of Pickering’s Gin.”

Co-founder Marcus Pickering added: “Scouring the length and breadth of Scotland to find the perfect whisky casks was a tough gig, but someone had to do it. We eventually identified five of the best casks to create our oak aged expressions, helping us to craft five gins which are undoubtedly different.”

They were certainly our chosen way to toast World Whisky Day – cheers!