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HOUSE OF RUHR
Bergmann – The Miner
Packed with botanicals like goji berries physalis and bitter yerba mate leaves, this is the gin that the creators Bryn and Richie call their Super Gin. Using these botanicals which are rich in antioxidants and Vitamin A, and also caffeine from the yerba mate leaves, it’s easy to understand why! I’m sure had miners of past drunk gin, this would be the one they would have chosen as a pickmeup after a hard day toiling at the coalface.
House of Ruhr works in collaboration with Distillerie Eicker & Callen in Germany. It was a dream of the current owner and longstanding friend of Bryn, to see their spirits served in the UK and after a visit to a family gathering, on the return flight Richie and Bryn decided to realise this, and House of Ruhr was born. They decided to focus on gin and an agreement was struck up with the distillery to produce 2500 bottles each of three different gins.
The branding pays tribute to mining heritage and the connection between the distillery in the Ruhr Valley and the NW of England where Bryn and Richie are based. You will recognise the branding uses colours of the German flag; Black, Red and Yellow.
More to come on the background of House of Ruhr and a bit more now about Bergmann. As expected the nose is fruity and delicate. It has a lovely sweet fruitness to taste with a spicy finish. I found it to be incredibly smooth and creamy and a beautiful gin to sip. I tried it with my normal light tonic, but found it brought out some bitterness which I don’t normally notice in other gins, so as it’s really about the pairing and finding the right tonic for a gin, I served it up again with an aromatic tonic and garnished with some goji berries and dehydrated orange wheels and this made my perfect serve!
Vogel – What’s in a name?
Until the mid 1980s canaries were used in coal mining to monitor or detect the presence of methane or carbon monoxide, especially after explosions or fires. Carried into the mines in small cages, they would be vital in ensuring the safety of the miners as they worked. Given their size and vulnerability to toxic gasses, if present, they would show signs of distress, thereby alerting the miners to any danger and be the signal to evacuate. Thankfully this practice ended with the invention of electronic detectors, but they will always be associated with mining and the role they played in ensuring the safety of many miners. Vogel (the German word for Bird) pays tribute to these little unsung heros of mining.
Vogel is a beautifully smooth gin, infused with Lemon and Allspice. You initially get a burst of citrus, with juniper in the background. I found it to be less spicy than the other gins in the range, but it still finishes with a gentle flutter of savoury spice and lemon. There are 12 botanicals hidden in this triple distilled London Dry, with of course a focus on lemon and lemon balm. I’ve yet to try this as a G&T and I chose to serve this up first as a Bees Knees – a nod to yet another little hero – but also a beautiful simple serve which brings forward the citrus notes.
I’m sure there are many variations, but for my Bees Knees, I used 15ml honey, 25ml lemon juice and 50ml Vogel and garnished with a lemon zest rose. Make sure your glass is frosty, dry shake all ingredients until blended and then wet shake until really cold, pour and enjoy.
Vogel is also distilled by Eicker & Callen, which was established in the Ruhr Valley in 1747.
The original owners were a master distiller and a merchant who worked together to develop many recipes and flavours inspired surrounding area, some of which are still being used, and it has now been handed down to Peter Meinken and his sister who run the distillery together. Peter and Bryn met when they worked for the respective German and UK police forces and together with Bryn’s business partner and son-in-law, Richie, have collaborated to bring us a brand that is steeped in mining heritage and connects the Ruhr Valley and NW of England. Whilst the colours of the branding scream Germany, the UK House of Ruhr also has a family connection with the mining industry in the UK and I will try and explain that with my next review of Renton.
Renton
Although distilled in Germany in the Ruhr Valley, these are marketed in the UK by retired police officer, Bryn and his son in law and business partner Richard. They work closely with the distillery to make hybrids of old recipes and drinks and handcraft them using artisinal skills passed down since the distillery was formed. They are triple distilled and each of the heavy, hipflasked shaped bottles are handfilled, labelled, signed and numbered.
Renton is named after Bryn’s maternal great grandfather, but the portrait on the bottle is of his paternal great grandfather, Thomas Jones, who was a miner. I’m sure it’s obvious why it wasn’t named Tom Jones, but as with all 3 Ruhr gins, the branding is very much focussed on family heritage and their connection with the mining industry.
Renton is my personal favourite of the 3 gins and is notably stronger than the other two at 44.7% On the nose it’s quite floral with a little lavender and rose coming through and to taste it’s slightly sweet, citrussy, a little spicy and as with the complete range, has a beautiful creamy mouth feel. Botanicals include cubeb pepper, mace, coriander, rosewater, all-spice and lavender and of course, it’s juniper forward too!
I’ve made a classic negroni with this, using Vermut and Sacred Rosehip Cup and added a nice big wedge of orange to it.
You can currently get 10% discount off the range on their website
using code ROODOG (June 2020)
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