Douglas fir-flavoured vodka set to launch

The Moorland Spirit Company is set to release the first expression in its new experimental Explorer Edition series – a Douglas fir-flavoured vodka.

Bottled at 41% abv, the Moorland Spirit Company's Douglas fir-flavoured vodka will be available from 1 October at Fortnum & Mason at a “special introductory price” of £35 (US$45) per 500ml bottle. The vodka has been two years in the making and is made with the needles of the Douglas fir tree, which grows on the grounds of the Hepple Estate in Northumberland, where the spirit is made. The needles are harvested, dried and prepared before being triple-distilled with the vodka. The flavours produced are said to include ripe melon, grapefruit and sweet pine. Nick Strangeway and Valentine Warner, co-creators of the Moorland Spirit Company, which also makes Hepple Gin, said about the vodka: “On the nose arrives immediate fresh sweet and mellow Douglas fir fragrance underlined with complementing lemon citrus sour notes. “The initial taste is an unexpected explosion of sweet ripe melon continuing into tropical fruit joined with undertones of grapefruit skins. The mouthfeel is rich, tingly and luscious. “Pine, melon and grapefruit sings out the long and lingering mouthfeel with bright sweet freshness.”