Hinch Distillery lifts top gong at World Gin Awards

Hinch Distillery lifts top gong at World Gin Awards

22 January 2020

THE highly acclaimed Hinch Distillery has won a prestigious gold award for its Ninth Wave gin brand.

Based near the Temple outside Ballynahinch, the distillery launched its Ninth Wave Gin and Hinch Whiskey Time Collection brands last summer.

Last week, the local firm’s gin received a gold accolade at an international awards event held in London.

The popular Ninth Wave brand struck gold in the ‘contemporary gin style’ category after judges from a panel made up of international journalists, specialist drinks retailers and industry experts, completed a blind tasting session on a variety of gin profiles originating from around the world.

The contemporary category covers gins with flavour profiles where juniper is still discernible, but other flavours such as citrus, spice, and floral notes are more prominent than in a classic gin.

Ninth Wave — which is part of a growing production line at the £15m distillery set to open to the public this summer — is a premium product that taps into Celtic heritage.

It is the craft work of Belfast-born head distiller Aaron Flaherty and his team who have a wealth of experience working for some of Ireland and the UK’s best-known spirit brands, with the Ninth Wave award set to further raise its profile globally.

“We are delighted to receive the gold award at the World Gin Awards,” said Aaron.

“It marks the perfect start to what will be an exciting year for Hinch Distillery as construction revs up for a public launch this summer.

“We believe our Ninth Wave gin is mystical and otherworldly and we’re very proud of the methods that go into making it. But to receive an award when the product is still in its infancy and from those at the top of the spirit industry is confirmation that we are producing a product worthy of holding its own on a global stage.”

Aaron congratulated everyone at the local distillery for their contribution to the development of the award-winning recipe and industry experts “who have joined them on this journey”.

He continued: “We would particularly like to thank Amanda Ludlow who is a world gin awards judge and the founder of The Gin Lounge. At a local level, the insights from Northern Ireland’s industry stalwart Michael Stewart have been invaluable.”

Hinch Distillery is the brainchild of well-known Northern Ireland entrepreneur Dr Terry Cross.

He has invested £15m in the project which will conclude with the opening of the two-floor distillery and additional public features including a visitor centre, coffee shop, public restaurant, pub, outside courtyard space and multi-purpose events spaces catering for weddings to corporate events and a retail shop.

The World Gin Award is one of many accolades that the local company has received and comes just six months after its products were launched to the public through a variety of independent off trade and on trade establishments in Northern Ireland and abroad.

Buoyed by its success, Hinch Distillery has entered another category at the World Gin Awards which will be announced next month and hopes its bid for the ‘best new launch award’ in the design category at the event will be successful.

Aaron added: “Ninth Wave isn’t just a great-tasting gin, but it tells a story about its origins and it plays on Celtic mythology, which is reflected in the design of the bottle, which we believe is a real stand out feature with our product so we are crossing everything that our luck doubles next month.”