Outcast Brands has launched its inaugural spirit, Blood Monkey Irish Craft Gin. The Cork-based distillery uses a recipe that’s based on classic 17th Century Dutch Genever (or Jenever) to make their product, though exact details remain scarce.
The name Blood Monkey is a nod to a naval term for sailors who used to drill into the officers’ barrel of grog to steal the liquor inside, which is also the reason behind the brand’s logo, a brass drill bit.
Blood Monkey is wholly Irish owned and distilled by West Cork Distiller’s Master Distiller, Deirdre Bohane in Skibbereen. Bohane said: “It is a sophisticated spirit with a complex character that reveals various details as it evolves on the palate. It hits you with a smooth, warm citrus spice followed with a slight hint of floral entwined with smoky, caramel flavours of whiskey.”
Dublin-based entrepreneur Jason Kidd created Blood Monkey in an attempt to stand out from the botanical gins which have hit the market: “The craft gin category has become tired and saturated with too many brands peddling the same old thing. With Blood Monkey we are calling time on the category conversions and are proud to produce a gin that tastes how it was meant to, in a style that hasn’t been distilled in Ireland or the UK for almost 350 years.”
The new Irish Gin has been designed as a sipping gin and can be enjoyed neat, in a traditional gin and tonic, or in a variety of cocktails. If you’re looking to mix something up, the brand recommends a mixing up a B&T:
B&T
- Blood Monkey Irish Craft Gin
- Premium bitter orange tonic
- Blood orange
- Sprig of ripped rosemary
- Ice
Add ice to a highball glass. Pour Blood Monkey Irish Craft Gin over ice. Then, add bitter orange tonic to taste. Garnish with a blood orange and spring of tonic.
You can buy the Gin online at the Celtic Whiskey Shop.