New Chapter(s) for Free Spirit Distilling – Part 2

Previously, I blogged about Free Spirit Distilling’s New Chapter Bottle no.1. This post centres around Free Spirit’s New Chapter Bottle no.2, with its alluring blue hues reminiscent of the ocean. Just picture this, sipping on a wonderful citrus cocktail, with Bottle no.2 at its heart, basking in the sun with the ocean as your backdrop. Pure heaven.

As with no.1, bottle no.2 has predominant citrus notes, albeit different types of citrus. According to the website, this gin offers lime as part of its aroma as well as grapefruit notes on the palate. It shares much of the same botanicals with its sister gin, including Buchu – a favourite among South Africans.

I ordered bottle no.2 directly from Free Spirit Distilling (had a wonderful email conversation with Bart about how his hobby turned into a career) and then waited in anticipation for my bottle to arrive. It arrived around 11:00 in the morning, and I am not ashamed to say that I immediately opened it to taste. We poured 50ml of gin, again loaded it with ice, and topped it off, with Fitch & Leedes Sugar Free Indian Tonic. As garnish, we added dehydrated grapefruit, tart gojiberries, and African rosemary (Eriocephalus africanus). The concentrated sweetness of the dehydrated grapefruit served to enhance bottle no.2’s grapefruit notes, while the tartness of the gojiberries and the earthiness of the African rosemary subtly cut through the sweetness of the grapefruit.

Bottle no.2 currently retails for R350 on Free Spirit’s website (deliveries are subject to the South African lifting the lockdown alcohol ban), and again, it is a gin that I can highly recommend. Additionally, Free Spirit offers a 140 Proof Special Edition version (Retails for R450), with a higher alcohol content of 70%, as opposed to the usual 43%.

You can read more about Free Spirit’s distilling process on their website: www.freespirit.co.za