North West Distillery Scoops Award For Its World-first Bison Grass Gin

Three Wrens, a boutique distillery located in Cholmondeley, Cheshire is raising a glass to celebrate the success of its new limited-edition Bison Grass Gin, the world’s first to be distilled and infused with the aromatic sweetgrass.

Launched in October, the gin uses ‘Hierochloe odorata’ – an aromatic herb once thought to exclusively grow in Poland’s ancient Bialowieza Forest. It is long hailed for its sacred properties in northern Europe and North America, where indigenous people used it in prayer and purifying ceremonies.

Three Wrens’ founder master distiller Nick Wadeson has been secretly growing the bison grass from seed in wooden planters at the company’s site, since the spring. Fully organic, the rare sweetgrass has been propagated and replanted along the way to ensure 100% sustainability.

"I wanted to create a gin that had its own story and fits with the company ethos" said Wadeson. "The origin of the herb is intriguing and developing the final recipe was a lengthy trial and error process which involved cultivating the herb from seed and finding the perfect palate partners to end up with a delightful and delicate gin"

The bison grass is vapour infused and distilled with rich Tuscan juniper berries, home-grown apple mint, lemon mint, fresh lime, grains of paradise and five other carefully selected botanicals. It is then macerated in the finished gin slowly in order to impart more of the flavour, before the finished spirit is filtered and bottled at 41.5% ABV.

The result is a gin with aromas of fresh hay and lemongrass, a rich hit of juniper on the palate and a long, smooth and herbaceous finish. Each bottle comes with a strand of bison grass in it for authenticity.

Three Wrens Bison Grass Gin is best served with a classic or elderflower tonic, with a slice of fresh apple. Alternatively, serve it with cloudy apple juice and a squeeze of lime in a gin-based twist on the classic bison grass vodka cocktail, Tatanka.

Just months after launch, the unique gin – bison grass has only been used to infuse vodka before – has been awarded a Gold medal in the Contemporary category of the second tasting of The Gin Masters 2020, hosted by The Spirits Business.

The judges praised Three Wrens Bison Grass Gin for having a spicy and indulgent nose, aromatic vanilla and ginger, with a balanced and intense palate. It was also noted for its sweetness, with grassiness on the palate, as well as for being spicy, integrated and flavoursome.

Of the award win Wadeson said: “We’re delighted that Three Wrens Bison Grass Gin received a Gold medal in The Gin Masters 2020. It offers a truly unique flavour experience, particularly as the key botanical has been so carefully grown and nurtured at our own distillery.”