Worried about getting in your 5 a day, but absolutely loathe the taste of healthy and cruciferous veggies like Brussels sprouts? Well, now you can get them in gin.
Yes, you read that correctly. In anticipation of the holiday season – which is fast-approaching, I can all but hear Christmas carols – a Scottish distillery has now made if possible for people to enjoy their Brussels sprouts with a tonic mixer in what is being billed as the “world’s first Brussels sprouts gin.”
While it seems like the UK is getting their Christmas spirit started extremely early, we have to keep in mind that they don’t have Thanksgiving to hold them back. As a result, the Edinburgh-based Pickering’s Gin has already announced its annual set of “Festively Flavored Gin Baubles” – which are gin-filled Christmas tree ornaments – are in a variety of flavors themed for the holidays. All six ornaments come in a set for £25 a set, and feature such Christmas flavors that include Christmas clementine, festive cranberry, spiced pear & cinnamon, figgy pudding, and plum & ginger. But the real star of the show is the Brussels sprout gin.
“This year, we fulfilled the Christmas destiny of 10,000 lonely and forgotten Perthshire sprouts by distilling them and creating the world’s first Brussels Sprout gin,” Pickering says on its website. “We know it sounds bonkers, but the humble sprout delivers a pleasantly sweet, slightly nutty gin, perfect for mixing.”
The distillery has added the additional tasting notes which read, “Don’t let its distinctive sprouty nose fool you, our Brussels Sprout gin finishes with a delightfully herbaceous, fresh green pepper twang.”
Not a fan? No problem. Each bauble only has 50 milliliters of gin in it, so it’s barely a single shot.
According to The Drinks Business, co-founder and head distiller, Matt Gammell, said, “It was an interesting challenge trying to balance the unmistakable flavor of Brussels sprouts to get the taste just right — and the distillery had a very distinct aroma while the gin was being distilled! However, we love the end result and it is the ideal tipple for friends and family to share together this Christmas.”
It is also worth noting that the gin is sustainable, as the 220 pounds of sprouts that went into the making of the gin were “forgotten sprouts,” meaning that if they hadn’t been used, they would have gone to waste. In addition to this, there will be a portion of the proceeds from these holiday gin sets that will be given to Contact the Elderly’s Community Christmas Campaign, a service which provides “friendship and companionship for older people who would otherwise spend Christmas alone.”
So if you’re living in the UK, or planning to visit any time soon, you might want to think about getting a set of Christmas gin baubles and take a plunge into the world of gin flavored with Brussels sprouts. There are worst tastes out there, right?