Getting to grips with the Method and Madness Irish Micro Distilled Gin

let’s begin

Method & Madness is an Irish brand that has been shaking things up in the Whiskey world, and now they’ve turned their hand to making Method and Madness Gin.

Who are they?

Hailing from the Midleton Distillery, the brand was formed in collaboration between the Master Distillers and the Apprentices. It’s a partnership that is meant to breed innovation and encourage a dialogue. They’ve certainly achieved something special already with the Method and Madness Gin.

The results have been excellent so far, with some really intriguing malts appearing. The brand has created drams matured in wood casks you wouldn’t usually encounter, such as Hungarian Oak and Chestnut.

The brand brings together a combination of expertise and inquisitiveness, which makes for the perfect team.

And now they’re making Gin?

Yes! Method & Madness have branched out into the world of Gin. They’ve recently released their Irish Micro Distilled Gin. It is made from 16 botanicals including Irish Gorse and Black Lemon.

Brian Nation, Master Distiller at The Midleton Distillery, spoke to us about the move: “The launch of Method & Madness Irish Micro Distilled Gin comes on the two-year anniversary of the launch of the Method & Madness range and while most new distilleries move from gin to whiskey – with Method & Madness Gin, we’re not afraid to do things a little differently.

They wanted to make it a distinctly Irish Gin; “There is a strong foundation of gin making in Cork, so to inform the creation of Method & Madness Gin our Apprentice Distiller, Henry Donnelly, and I consulted with Irish Distillers archivist, Carol Quinn, to get under the skin of this rich history. In the 18th century, Cork was a mercantile city and a centre of production for gin and rectified spirits.

“Merchants such as the Murphy family, who founded Midleton Distillery in 1825, imported a rich variety of spices and botanicals to which distillers had access. In fact, in the 1930s, Max Crockett – father of MasterDistiller Emeritus, Barry Crockett – created the first commercially produced gin in Ireland, Cork Dry Gin.”

Gin already has a connection to Midleton, where Method & Madness is based; “A notebook kept in the Midleton Distillery archive dating back to the 1790s, written by a rectifier in Cork called William Coldwell, details the recipes, botanicals and methods that informed the creation of Irish Distillers’ Cork Crimson Gin in 2005. In reimaging these recipes for Method& Madness Gin, we combined the knowledge and tools of the past with the skills of the present to create a gin for the future.”

How did they make Method & Madness Gin?

The process is similar to how the brand make their Whiskey, as Nation explains; “In line with the rest of the Method & Madness range, the creation of the gin is overseen by myself and our Apprentice Distiller, Henry Donnelly.

“Over the course of the past year, we conducted several trials and experiments in the Micro Distillery, Midleton, including a number of small scale distillations to see how botanicals behaved individually and together.”

There was a lot of thinking put into the making of the Gin in order to craft a great flavour profile.

Nation continues; “We made adjustments along the way and identified four key groupings of botanical type in citrus, spice, floral and herb – eventually, we chose an eclectic fusion of 16 botanicals, led by black lemon and Irish gorse flower, and distilled the gin in ‘Mickey’s Belly’, Ireland’s oldest gin still first commissioned in 1958, at the Micro Distillery, Midleton.”

What’s in the future for Method & Madness?

Innovation is at the heart of everything that Method & Madness do and that’s exactly what they plan to keep doing.

“The Micro Distillery is our innovation hub at the home of Irish whiskey, Midleton, where our team of Master Distillers and Apprentices are constantly experimenting with different grains, distillates and spirit types to push the boundaries of what Midleton can achieve.

“Some of these, such as our Method&Madness Gin, will be released to market – while others will not. You will have to wait to see what new innovations from Midleton and the Micro Distillery we have in store for the future.”

This is definitely a brand to keep an eye on, as their experiments and trials are guaranteed to craft some incredible drams. Just try their Gin and see for yourself! Tell us what you thought in the comments.

Tags: Midleton Distillery

Greg

My name is Greg, and I’m a brand strategy consultant, writer, speaker, host and judge specialising in premium spirits. My mission is to experience, share and inspire with everything great about whisky, whiskey, gin, beer and fine dining through my writing, my brand building and my whisky tastings.