A superb gin from Norway’s Oss Craft Distillery.

The distillery was joined in 2011 by Stig Bareksten, who had previously had forays into the alcohol industry as a bartender and with another gin distillery, Det Norske Brenneri. Bareksten quickly shook things up, and created his own gin, bearing his name.

The gin took four years to develop, with Stig foraging local botanicals and trialling distillations and spirits. Throughout, Stig kept in mind his ambition to create a London dry style gin with a “clear Norwegian identity.” Nevertheless, this still allowed for plenty of creativity, and Bareksten illustrates this: an exciting, flavoursome gin using no less than 26 botanicals. 19 of these have been foraged locally. Indeed, Stig uses a botanical GPS marker for each herb or spice that is foraged, an excellent demonstration of how technology can add to the sense of terroir and general drinking experience.

The gin is made with botanicals including: juniper, coriander, blueberries, guinea pepper, fennel, rosehips, rose flowers, cinnamon, caraway, cardamom, angelica, lime, orange and lemon peel, orris, rhubarb, aniseed, nutmeg, red clover, lavender, chamomile, mint arnica flowers, elderflowers and lingonberry.

The gin begins with a neutral potato spirit base, supposedly to give it a creamier palate. A basket of the more delicate botanicals (flowers, citrus and rhubarb) is suspended inside the still. The rest of the botanicals are allowed to macerate inside the spirit for a full 24 hours. Bareksten is distilled in one go – a “single shot” – though this distillation is performed very slowly, taking over nine hours to run allowing for more copper contact, which is said to produce a smoother mouthfeel.

Bareksten delivers notes of maddening complex herbs and spices, with highlights of citrus rind, bittersweet juniper, dried mint, subtle spice, some berry fruitiness, earthy rhubarb, pepperiness and some forest floor flavours.

The final product is beautifully presented in a modernist designed bottle. Bareksten makes a mean Gin and Tonic, but its full mouthfeel and texture ensures it is well suited to drinking neat.

• Distillery / brand
  Bareksten
• Country
  Norway
• Bottler
  Distillery Bottling
• SKU
  041622