Haycock’s No.9 Spiced Liqueur was inspired by London dry gin and handcrafted by two brothers; Andy and James Campana, former bar owners of The Loft and Plan B in London. The liqueur took four years to develop and perfect to their ideal mixing spirit. Their spiced liqueur is based around coriander seeds and made with cardamom seeds with four more botanicals, it’s a particularly spicy liqueur that works well in cocktails.

The coriander seeds are great at welcoming flavours like citrusy, earthy, spicy, floral, green, woody and a little fruity, which are great at combining other components. Haycock was designed to suit all taste buds and it blends well with a lot of decent mixers on the market which makes it easier to create tasty drinks at home.

Haycock’s No.9

Did you know? Gin was originally made to drink neat or with water and not to be drunk with tonic water or anything else. It was lucky that gin is versatile and could be drunk in most drinks.

We were invited to Haycock’s No.9 press event last Monday 9th in the evening by Liquor to Lips, which was an exhilarating experience. We got there early so we could have a wonder around the venue – Mcqueen Shoreditch –  it was a plush venue with leather sofas, futuristic chairs, and matching leather tables.

On arrival we had their London Mule cocktail which tasted delicious – ginger and a sweet citrus flavour – reminded us a bit of lemoncello.

Once everyone got settled down they bought out food, to line our stomachs before we enjoyed their gin tasting experience.

Andy welcomed us all to the event and talked passionately about the journey of Haycocks, how they researched into various spices and how coriander seeds were the best spice to use. Throughout we were sampling some of their signature drinks – Maggie their twist on a margarita.

The Maggie sample was smooth and it had hints of citrus. Sadly they didn’t have a nitro bullet but they recommended it to be served frozen:

20ml Haycock’s No.9
20ml Triple sec
20ml Lime juice
20ml Gomme
10ml Blanco tequila

~ Serve frozen in a coupette.
~ Garnish with a flower

We also sampled it with tropical red bull, now red bull has a lot of caffeine and taurine flavours in it which gives off its characteristic after taste, and can be hard to mask. However Haycocks liqueur can remove that aftertaste – it was a tasty lemony flavour with hints of tropical, I’d easily drink it on a night out.

Once Andy finished his speech we were all invited to stay and try their mixers, that they had kindly prepared for us with the correct garnishes.

I first tried the Rose and Lemonade mixer with the gin; it blended nicely hints of rose, it was refreshing, and the flavour of the mixer wasn’t over powering, you still could taste the citrus liqueur but everything blended so well.

Next up I tried the Jasmine and Sparkling tonic water with the gin, I couldn’t really taste the jasmine flavour as the liqueur was more prominent, however I did think the mixer made the liqueur a lot lighter in taste.

We were given 3 chips at the beginning of the event to purchase complimentary drinks, we loved the first drink so much that we ordered more, the London Mule:

50ml Haycock’s No.9
15ml Lime juice
Top Ginger beer

~ Build over ice in a copper mug.
~ Garnish with lime wedges & a mint sprig.

We enjoyed every moment of this experience and learnt how much Haycock no.9 is so versatile with pretty much every drink.  If you’d like to know more check out their website they have an array of flavours that they’ve already tested that blends well with Haycocks on their flavour wheel! We will definitely be purchasing Haycocks for parties to come as its great liqueur to have in the cabinet.

Bottle Price: £24.99

*Disclosure: This was an invite to Haycock’s No.9 Spiced Liqueur Gin press event.