Blue Roof Distillers, the people responsible for turning potatoes into the only vodka I would ever consider drinking neat, have just announced the launch of a new dry gin product.
The Strang Family have been potato farmers for four generations. Their farm in Maiden, New Brunswick turns out over 20 million lbs of table grade potatoes a year. Last year they announced a new twist on the family business, with the creation of Blue Roof Distillers, and began employing their produce in the production of potent potables.
This week, Blue Roof Distillers have announced that they’ll be crafting a dry gin using their potato based alcohol. It’ll be the first product since the launch of their vodka to be available for purchase across New Brunswick.
“We are taking a bit of a different approach to our gin, as most craft producers typically do, in the sense that we were aiming for a really refreshing, citrusy gin rather than a really piney one, as I like to call them,” says Devon Strange, CEO of Blue Roof Distillers.
“The sweet aroma and flavour really mixes in well with the selected herbs and botanicals that we are using in our dry gin. Our Gin has a very floral aromatic essence, leads into citrus body flavours and finishes with a hint of light pepper and spice. Our goal with this product was to make it very light, sweet and refreshing. I truly believe that we are about to, once again, launch a product that is very different than the current market offerings in many great unique ways.”
The Blue Roof Dry Gin will be crafted on a 26 gallon gin still, and will employ eleven different herbs and botanicals to create the product. Each batch will be crafted in 100 litre batches, partly due to the constraints of the still size, but also as a measure of ensuring quality.
“We really wanted to continue to include ultimate craftsmanship into each bottle and ensure that each batch was receiving the wonderful flavours and aromas of all the herbs and botanicals in the column.”
Aside from their vodka and dry gin, Blue Roof Distillers have also produced a small batch of “Strang’s Original Spirit” which is only available at the distillery. The moonshine-like spirit uses russet potatoes and triple distillation process using only their potstill. This product is similar to what locals refer to as “Potato Champagne”.
Blue Roof Distillers are currently in the process of submitting their dry gin for review from ANBL, but hope that it will receive a listing fairly quickly. Strang says they hope to see the product hit shelves across New Brunswick sometime next month.