I was recently working at Imbibe, the drinks industry trade show at Olympia. As well as being able to promote my own brand, I was able to take advantage of the valuable networking opportunities it presented. There were so many people there, lots of whom I hadn’t seen for years and it was nice to see how many of the ‘old’ faces are still actively involved in the industry.

It was on one of the stands where I came across a couple of familiar faces and I was introduced to this divine liqueur.

Haycocks has been devised according to old Gin recipes which were never meant to be drunk mixed with anything – just neat as a medicine. In this case the Juniper as been taken out (thus removing itself firmly away from the Gin camp) instead focusing on the Coriander seed.

Coriander seed is probably the second most important botanical in any Gin recipe – it is that which provides many of the citrus and spice flavours depending on the origin of the seed and is one of the ‘amalgamating’ spices which make all the combined flavours work together and harmonise.

I first tried it in a London Mule which obviously has the liqueur as a base and is topped with ginger beer and fresh lime. It was the perfect drink for a hot day stuck inside what is effectively a large greenhouse. Their other serves are variations of other classic cocktails and demonstrates it’s versatility perfectly.

Their website is pretty sleek too with gorgeous imagery from Karin Taylor (http://www.karintaylor.co.uk/) pure drinkporn which ticks all my boxes!

I’ve got a bottle now at the bar at Iscoyd Park and I’m looking forward to getting it into some of my creations henceforth.