Well well well. What do we have here? It would appear to be the infamous Monkey 47 Dry gin! Yes that's right we are now a stockist of this fantastic spirit. Want to know a little more? Let's have a look...
The story of Monkey 47 begins in the 1940s. In July 1945, to be precise! Wing Commander Montgomery “Monty” Collins of the Royal Air Force was posted to the British sector of divided Berlin. Having arrived in Berlin after the end of the war and taken up his post in the administration of the British sector, Commander Collins was profoundly affected by the extent of the destruction of the capital and so resolved to support the reconstruction of Germany in his free time. Henceforth he became devoted to the rebuilding of the Berlin Zoo, through which he came to sponsor an egret monkey by the name of Max.
Montgomery Collins left the Royal Air Force in 1951. Driven by his desire to learn the art of watch making, Collins moved to the Northern Black Forest region. Unfortunately he showed little talent in the field of horology, so instead opened a country guesthouse, naming it “The Wild Monkey” in honour of Max.
The Black Forest area has always been known for distilling fruit liqueurs. Collins combined this history with his interest in gin and what he created – Schwarzwald Dry Gin – became the trademark spirit for the guesthouse until the 1970s. Almost four decades later, in 2006, this story was rediscovered by Alexander Stein, who just so happened to descend from a family of distillers…
Monkey 47 Schwarzwald Dry Gin @ £38.95 - Buy it here!
The nose instantly offers up woody, vegetable smells under pin fresh grassy citrus notes and botanical sweetness, like a pine forest after the rain. On the palate it is predictably complex, this is a robust and powerful gin with plenty of spice, fruit and herb flavours. It's very well structured, and difficult to unpick but a citrus fresh start segues into pine and wood notes for a drying and heavy finish. A unique gin, that is crying out to be made into a Martini. It'll need an equally robust vermouth though.
We waited so long for this to be available to us so come and get it! This stuff is truly exceptional.
