Salcombe 'Voyager Series' DARING - limited edition Paul Ainsworth

Each gin in the limited edition Voyager Series is developed in collaboration with a renowned chef or winemaker to represent their ‘individual personality and style’. The seventh release in the series saw Salcombe partner with Ainsworth and was inspired by his dish, A Tale of Porthilly. The dish, which is available at Ainsworth’s Michelin-starred Padstow restaurant Paul Ainsworth at No.6, showcases Cornish oysters and features a fennel and apple salad. This gin, called Daring, has been developed to mimic the properties of the Cornish oyster, and features fennel, apple and lime to replicate the accompanying salad found in the dish.

To create the new expression, Salcombe Distilling Co created a distillate using milk whey, which was then blended with English wheat grain spirit. The base spirit was then combined with 14 botanicals, including fresh fennel, Cornish apples, seaweed, blood orange and fresh lime. The gin then underwent a one-shot distillation process, after which the spirit was blended with oyster leaf and seaweed distillates.

Ainsworth said: "Within the ingredients of Daring you can taste the saltiness of the sea depicted by oyster leaves, the freshness of green apples, the soft aniseed of fennel, along with blood orange and lime".

At the heart of the distillation process is a daring ingredient, whey, a sustainable by-product from dairy farming which brings a buttery smoothness to the palate, perfectly complementing the soft citrus and warming spices.

“The name Daring also recalls a time when our quaint fishing village of Padstow was a thriving merchant port, whose ships transported spices all over the world. Daring was one of the ships, built for owners in Padstow; it is also the perfect word to describe the driving force and ethos of The Ainsworth Collection.”

Limited to 10,000 bottles.