What is it: Five Finnish friends, all rye whiskey fans, sat in the sauna and one of them suggested they start distilling their own. A disused cheese factory was purchased and a distillery built named Kyro. The plan was rye-only spirits, and this gin combines that with locally foraged botanicals such as meadowsweet, sea buckthorn, birch leaves and wild cranberry.
What it tastes like: The nose is vivid and highly perfumed, with red fruit and a sweet, medicated, menthol character – birch and meadowsweet. The entry is soft given the rye (and the 46.3 per cent abv), orange cream giving way to cranberry tartness, mint and a blustery freshness.
