Lough Ree Distillery’s World winning trio
Lough Ree Distillery in Lanesborough, County Longford, is celebrating a trio of World Gin Masters medals including a Gold for Aiteal and Slingshot – and a Sliver for Mist + Moss.
The Lough Ree Distillery team have looked to local and Irish flavours for their inspiration and this approach has been rewarded with great recognition at the World Gin Masters with the ninth international award for Sling Shot Distilled Irish Gin as well as Gold and Silver medals for two new Irish gins made by the distillery.
Sling Shot Distilled Irish Gin, launched in October 2018, has quickly become one of the most highly-regarded Irish gins, pouring in Ireland’s bars and restaurants and sold by independent retailers. It’s the only spirit containing a peat distillate, making it uniquely Irish. It won a Gold Medal in the Ultra-Premium class.
Late last year, Lough Ree was approached by the Armada Hotel in Spanish Point, County Clare, to help develop a bespoke gin with Co Clare botanicals. This was a labour of love as Distillery founder Michael Clancy’s late father hailed from West Clare. The new Mist + Moss Irish Gin includes Irish Juniper and a selection of botanicals sustainably foraged in Clare. It brought home a Silver medal (via Longford) to Co Clare in its first competition outing.
All gins must have Juniper but sometimes it takes a back seat while other botanicals shine. Not so with Aiteal Irish Gin. Very few Juniper-only gins exist but the Lough Ree team felt this Irish Juniper had such interesting and complex flavours that it was worthy of making a gin in its own right without the need for additional botanicals. As the gin is distilled with Irish whey spirit Aiteal is the only 100% Irish gin – and it launches on the market with the imprimatur of a World Gin Masters Gold Medal.
“As a small family-owned Irish distillery we aspire to produce spirits that can compete with the best in the world” commented Michael Clancy, “and these awards are great validation for the quality of the ingredients we get from our Irish suppliers and the work that our team does to turn them into fine Irish spirits.”
There were 219 entries in the competition from 105 different companies from across the globe.
For more information go to www.lrd.ie.
