The good news is that these are just as suitable for flavouring Gin as both Damson and Sloes so, after a little bit of child labour employed to collect the berries we can let infusion fun commence. At least 3 months is required for your infused spirit to be ready this give the time for the flavours of the spirit, sugar and fruit to combing. Whilst there is value in leaving it longer the genuine results of aging come from significant aging, the skin, stalk and stone of the fruit all introduce tannin to the spirit and whilst tannin ultimately produces greater complexity in the shorter term it adds a dry bitterness. Tannin breakdown takes time so be prepared to wait a couple of years to experience the difference. LinkedIn Selfridges UK department store chain brings the limited edition gin of the Rolling Stones gin that will delight fans.

A modern-day version of the stone age man, Keith has fashioned his own tools to perfect the manufacturing process.

I wanted to produce a better version of what makes gin the best drink,” Oshea said of the taste of Rolling Stones Gin. This classic gin, a signature blend heavy in juniper and citrus, is produced at Thames Distillery.

Unlike cutting large pieces of stone there is a lot more precision involved. Just 1 millimetre out and the stone will look lopsided. I also discovered, after lots of research and experimenting with different sizes, that 20mm cubes were best for temperature retention.” I have never really understood the obsession with Sloe Gin, at least from a home liqueur creation perspective. For me, Gin as already been infused with anything from Juniper (the fruit that makes Gin…well…Gin) through Cardamon, Orris Root, Lemon Peel and a in the case of the Cambridge Gin company… Ants! To create the the flavour of a spirit that would otherwise be not dissimilar to Vodka. A berry like Bullace is so tart and sour that it is inedible in all but the rarest circumstances. The process of infusing it with sugar and spirit allows its flavour to be introduced into something that can be consumed and enjoyed. We do the same thing with Coffee, Tea, Hops, Cocoa all of which are pretty darn awful in their natural state and whilst in all of these are also embellished with other flavours there is a sense in which we want the process we apply to them to result in presenting them at their best, processed but untainted. The launch, which is limited to 500 bottles, is the second collaboration between the retailer, Goldy Gin and the band following the first limited edition run in 2018, the “Yellow Tongue” bottling, which featured the Hot Lips logo in Selfridges’ iconic yellow livery. This edition of the Rolling Stones gin will be limited to 500 bottles. In collaboration with Goldy Gin, who bottled the gin, both are launching this gin in its second edition. In fact, in 2018 they launched a bottle with the emblematic language of the “Hot Lips” logo in yellow. We only use local whinstone and greenschist– some of the hardest and densest stones on earth. The stones work to cool a glass of complex single malt whisky or beautiful botanical gin without diluting its distinctive taste.” Keith uses local stoneThese are limited sales, limited editions, these are special products. And for a band as big as the Rolling Stones, the most iconic band that sends thousands of T-shirts and stuff like that, it’s nice to be part of something they want to be part of, something small, exclusive and limited,” Oshea told The Drinks Business. Most of the recipes for Sloe Gin or its derivatives online work with a total of a litre quantity of product and this works well if you have a separate vessel for infusion to the finished article. We saw a gap in the market for an ‘all Scottish’ product fit for our national drink. While many whisky stone products on the market are made from American soapstone, our drink stones come from the very mountains that produce some of the world’s finest whiskies. In my case however I wanted to avoid using the extra vessel was hoping to use a handful of attractive bottles that had once contained arty gins. My recipe therefore scales to around 75cl proportions. I opted to create a Bullace Vodka and a Bullace Gin using equivalent quantities of both sugar and fruit to test my beliefs on the purity of Vodka vs Gin. Given the Japanese love of Umeboshi, and a number of plum infused Sake’s available I also thought a version using Sake might be interesting. Sake is closer to wine than spirits in strength (typically around 15%) but unlike wine will keep once opened for a few weeks. I am hoping that this combined with the additional sugar content will be enough to keep the Sake fresh whilst being infused. Speaking to the drinks business this morning, Goldy Gin’s founder Justin Oshea said that Selfridges strong online platform would ensure that the online launch was as effective as the Yellow Tongue collaboration, which was initially launched in store, where it sold out in one day.

I have always loved foraging and whilst today would hardly tax Bear Grylls in its originality or obscurity (I related the process of making acorns edible to my 8 year old to a frankly limited response) there was undeniably a reaction to the idea of food being freely available in the woods. His range of Modern Stone Age whisky and gin stones – designed to cool drinks without affecting their taste – are not only made in Scotland, but from its very landscape. For this reason I prefer to use Vodka to create these liqueurs rather than Gin with the intention of bringing out the flavour of the Bullace (or Damsons, Sloes, Jelly Babies, Mars bars whatever). What the hell, why not leave Juniper and any of the spices mentioned above in Vodka for a while and make your own Gin. I’ve always enjoyed tinkering with machinery and spent 3-4 years creating the perfect machine to cut and shape our whisky stones, which I then finish off by hand before sending them out to customers all over the world.

Sample kilogram/kg in stone and pounds conversions

Keith added: “For thousands of years man has relied on stone products and they’re just as useful today. We’re all about limited sales, limited editions, it’s about special products. And for a band that is as big as the Rolling Stones, the most iconic band which ships thousand of Tee shirts and things like that, it’s nice to be part of something they want to part of – something small, exclusive and limited,” he said.