Assay

The Sheffield Distillery is based on the banks of the Blackburn Brook River in Chapeltown, to the North of the city. It's also sited in the car park of The Commercial Pub, a fantastic boozer with an vast range of whiskies and gin that host tasting events almost every week. Manager Paul Harrison and his team - along with several of his regular customers - decided that they'd venture into making spirits themselves, and in 2017 distillation began. Paul and his father Keith dedicated research time reading up on the full processes involved rather than diving head on, to ensure that they hit the ground running in producing a richly textured spirit that would be the base for a selection of flavoured spirits using local natural produce, with a strict rule of non chill-filtration. A whisky is on the cards, but in the meantime the Assay gins and vodkas (named after the 5 offices across UK that certify quality of precious metals, for which Sheffield is so well-known) are more than providing a great reputation. Paul himself even suffered second-degree burns after the still set alight in May of 2019, resulting in him being put in a coma for 2 weeks to aid recovery. He was quickly back at work, determined not to let the incident set production back.

One of the patron saints of Sheffield is St. Clement, probably known by most people from the nursery rhyme 'Oranges and Lemons from the bells of St. Clements'. Paul and his team wanted to use this link to the city to create a gin full of citrus flavours. Whereas the Assay Dry London and Liquorice gins use dried peels of lemon and whole oranges, the St. Clement's uses fresh lemons and clementines during a batch run in winter months when clementines are in season. As a result of using fresh citrus, it's necessary to filter the resulting spirit through layers of fine mesh to eliminate the oils that are contained within - note however this is not chill-filtration and is a necessary filtration to ensure a pleasant flavour and texture as opposed to a harsh oiliness. A minute amount of colouring is used to maintain the bright orange colour - however this is done as when they transferred production to a larger still they lost the colouration that appeared in their earlier runs. Also, for the bar staff in the Commercial, it's a lot easier to differentiate between the various bottlings on a shelf.

The citrussy-ness is obvious, as one might expect, but there's a lovely freshness to it too. You can tell fresh fruit has been used, not an artificial flavouring. It's bright and clean and utterly delicious.It's fantastic in a Negroni, as the clementine notes work perfectly with the Campari and red vermouth. But as a long drink with tonic on a summer's day, you absolutely can't go wrong!