Bertha's Revenge Gin

If you’re not familiar with the legendary cow that inspired this folksy gin brand then I’m not sure we can be friends. For those of you no longer on my Christmas card list, ‘Big Bertha’ earned herself the title of world’s oldest cow when she died at the grand old age of 48 in 1993. “It’s a cow that lived for a long time - so what?”- you say, embarrassing yourself further. Well, for your information, she wasn’t just the oldest cow in the world when she died, she was also the most productive mother too, birthing a total of 39 calves. Bertha’s Revenge Gin is a long-overdue tribute to her longevity and maternal instincts, and if more spirits honoured cows it would be a better world we live in. Bertha’s Revenge is distilled in Ballyvolane House, a historic Irish country house owned by Justin and Jenny Green. It was here that they and school friend Antony Jackson came up with the idea of a grass to glass distillery, while sharing a couple of drinks in early summer 2014. Given the rural nature of the distillery, it was decided it would make sense if the ethanol used for this alcohol would be made from milk, or whey, more specifically. When milk is separated into curds and whey, the latter is usually a waste product. Yet, Ballyvolane House Spirits add specially developed yeasts to its stock, produced just 30 minutes away, and once it’s been distilled a few times, it can be transformed into a spirit. Ballyvolane House Spirits’ 125 litre copper pot still distills this spirit along with a substantial list of botanicals, including alexander seeds, almond, angelica, bitter orange, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, cumin, elderflower, grapefruit, juniper, lemon, lime, liquorice, orris and sweet woodruff (take a deep breath). After short maceration takes place, a slow distillation follows, and this unique, rustic spirit is born.