A PARALLEL UNIVERSE

After a long wait… plenty of internet stalking… and patience, I have FINALLY bagged myself a bottle of HENDRICKS ORBIUM!!!! And a FIRST RELEASE 😊 (probably shouldn’t have opened this and kept it for future generations to enjoy… but I couldn’t contain myself).  To say I was excited when my bottle arrived is quite literally an understatement… Hendricks Orbium was initially released in May 2017, a select few of the bottles were only given to a few handpicked bars within the UK… which soon after extended to limited bars across the world, so if you wanted to sample a splash of the mystical libation it was like finding a needle in a haystack!!  After this initial year the bottles have finally been made available for general public release (in the UK) only, so I literally screamed when I got my bottle!!

So where did the intriguing name for the newest member of the Hendricks family derive?  Inspiration for the name was taken from master distiller Lesley Gracie’s description for the wonderful journey of their gin.. describing the gin as having “a spherical round taste”, so some creative thinking started, “Orbium derives from the word ‘orb’, the plural of Orbis and the Latin for circle”. so from this humble beginning Orb transformed into the alluring name of Orbium…

 

With the base of original Hendrick’s Gin, Orbium takes the drink we all know and love to the next level.. Orbium is a mystical infusion of flavours! Taking tastes that we would normally associate with other classic gin libations… Orbium uses quinine which is found in our all too familiar G&T and Wormwood which is found in vermouth used for our martini cocktails 🍸 Then the final touch of Blue Lotus Blossom balances the flavour… leaving a complex Gin, starting floral & transforming into an enticing bitter sensation!!  🍸👌

I decided to match this with one of Schweppes’s new tonics, salted lemon 🍋  which they recommend to have with an earthy gin.. I think the salty zest from the tonic matches perfectly with the earthy flavour that stems from the wormwood and brings out the citrus of the gin, I balanced it off with the refreshing cucumber (wouldn’t be a Hendrick’s without its signature garnish)

Hendricks themselves recommend the following serves:

Orbium & Soda with 3 slices of cucumber

Orbium Martinez – 40ml Orbium, 20ml Dry Vermouth & 5 ml Maraschino Liqueur garnished with orange zest

Orbium Martini – 60ml Orbium & 30ml Dry Vermouth with optional cucumber garnish

The gin is presented in the traditional Hendricks apothecary style bottle, it differs from its older sibling though as the bottle is a lovely magical deep blue, which represents the Blue Lotus Flower in the drink.   The bottle’s label is emblazoned with an ‘all seeing eye’ representative of a continuous circle and yet again a reference to the liquid’s well rounded character.  I like to see this eye as the “all seeing eye” of the Hendrick’s parallel universe, adding to Orbium’s mystic and quirky charm.

This gin will not be everyone’s cup of tea and Hendrick’s have even declared this themselves, but this is definitely one for me.  Hendricks have described it as “a complex gin with surprising brightness and a finish that is uncommonly long. The result is an unfamiliar taste that is oddly familiar in character designed to open up previously unexplored dimensions of gin as It spirals from floral into an altogether deeper and alluringly bitter place.”  It seems like something the Mad Hatter would shout out but this adds to the allure of the gin, this truly is a complex, out of this world addition to the Hendricks family!!