Tipsy Wight: Foraged Vodkas from Isle of Wight
Tipsy Wight makes nice hedgerow vodkas, from ingredients foraged on the Isle of Wight. Locals pick ingredients like sloe, wild cherry, plum, and crab apple each season.
The infusions taste like the fruit itself, not a synthetic syrup. You’ll catch subtle notes of blossom, green leaves, and stone fruit, plus just the right amount of sweetness. The range (most vegan) includes:
- Cherry
- Damson
- Elderflower
- Medlar
- Quince
- Wild Plum
- Wild Garlic
Vodka is a high-percentage spirit alcoholic drink that is usually made with wheat or potatoes. Rather than buy multi-national big brands, why not try some homegrown artisan brands?
Check medication, before consuming grapefruit gin. Choose soda water mixer (over tonic water due to quinine) for some medical conditions (liver failure, blood thinners, antibiotics and anti-depressants.
Corks are too dense to compost (and choking hazards if left around). So recycle them at your local off license, or send off in bulk to Recorked.
The Best Brands of Artisan Tonic Waters
Tonic water is mostly served as a mixer for gin and vodka, or sometimes alone as a refreshing drink. But it was originally used to help prevent malaria, as it contains quinine (from the bark of the cinchona tree).
It was so bitter that medics added gin, to make it more palatable. Modern tonic waters don’t have as much quinine, and are generally sweeter.
- Fentimans (Northumberland) makes a wide range of botanically brewed tonic waters, made with herbal infusions from lemongrass to Sicilian lemon oil.
- Luscombe (Devon) blends Dartmoor spring water with wild or organic fruits, and Indian quinine. Also in flavoured versions (elderflower and grapefruit) and a Light version (sweetened with fruit sugar, with Japanese yuzu).
- Daylesford makes organic tonic water with dandelion, instead of quinine. Containing far less sugar, it’s bottled on a family farm in Devon. Choose from Light, cucumber, wild elderflower or Damescena rose.
