Their Hardshore North Oak Barrel Rested Gin won the gold medal with 94 points and Hardshore Original Gin won another gold medal with 92 points.

Hardshore Original Gin 

92 proof (46% ABV)

Hardshore Original Gin, Source: Facebook

The flagship spirit, Hardshore Original Gin, is a surprisingly complex gin despite being made with only five botanicals. It is bright and distinctive with leafy notes of fresh rosemary and mint up front, supported by orris root (iris), coriander, and, of course, bold Tuscan juniper. The neutral base is hand-crafted from grain grown on their founder's family farm and provides a smooth, full mouthfeel which allows the gin's distinctive flavor to unfold slowly with each sip. It lights up with tonic and makes what they consider, humbly, to be the world's greatest negroni, but leave it alone with an ice cube for a truly remarkable experience.

Tale of Origin

“I am probably one of the biggest gin fans in any room at any given point of time. Whenever i see a new gin i need to know what choices that they make, what ingredients did they use, what methods did they use” says the ever-enthusiastic Jordan Milne, the founder of Hardshore Distilling Company in an interview.

Almost a decade ago, when Hurricane Sandy hit the shores of New York and New Jersey; Jordan Milne and his wife escaped the storm and headed to Maine. With this decision, they decided to abandon the cities and their careers in law and finance. Rather than finding another Job in Finance, Jordan decided to pursue his career in gins. It took him 4 years to perfect the recipe.

Maine is known for its brewing industry but this did not stop Jordan from setting up his Gin shop. He was obliged by the help of the breweries in the area as they lent him their equipment for distilling, as well as gave him useful advice on the beverage industry and on obstacles to avoid while setting up. 

He further explains that he owes a lot to craft brewing as Maine

“We are perfectionists, we dont believe in even buying ingredients from anyone else”
-Jordan Milne

They grow their own grain on the family farm. Every process of Gin making is done In-house. From the cultivation of the crop to harvesting, milling till the distillation of the batch.

The Gin making process

Gin making at Hardshore Distilling Company, Source: Facebook

The process starts when specific grains are separated at the farm and transported in batches of 1 ton to the distillery. These grains are very large for their size hence giving maximum extraction of flour which aids in the process of fermentation.
A Hammermill is used to pulverize the grain into flour. The flour is then mixed with something which Jordan calls a ‘weedy stew‘, this process breaks the scratch extracted into sugar, which is a paradise for upcoming yeast in the fermentation process. This process usually takes about a day. 

When the sugary water is ready, it is pumped into a fermentor where in the course of about 5 days the yeast totally feasts on the sugar. The product becomes the perfect base for the gin. The mixture is heated in long copper columns, where the gin is transformed into vapors.

This distillation process is done 3 times. With each distillation, the alcohol volume is increased in the solution as its concentration rises overall in the mixture.

The mixture is stored in a still after adding the botanicals. Five types of botanicals are used in the preparation of the gin - fresh rosemary, fresh mint, tuskin juniper, coriander, and orris root.  

One more round of distillation is followed up after 3 days and the batch of gin is ready after it.

Jordan has an eye for detail and wanted his gin to look distinguished on the shelves. He believes that the customers want the bottles to look esthetically pleasing.

The bottles are hence dyed grey to encapsulate the rainy rocky coast of Maine.

Header image credit Facebook