Collaborating for good in Monmouthshire

Great things happen when we work together, and four of Monmouthshire's businesses have taken that to heart in creating two fantastic new drinks (helping to reduce waste and fight poverty in the process).

Tintern's Silver Circle Distillery has teamed up with Raglan's Dell Vineyard to create a unique Pinot Noir Gin (you heard that right!), and Caldicot's Hive Mind Mead & Brew Co. has worked with Monmouth's Bees for Development charity to create a new mead using honey from Zambia.

Y Gwyllgi Pinot Noir Gin

Silver Circle Distillery has long been known for their award-winning collaborations and distinctive flavours, including teaming up with one of Britain's premier mixologists to create the Great Taste two star Lan-y-Mor cocktail. So it was a no brainer when Lucy from The Dell Vineyard got in touch to see how they could work together.

After a tour of the vineyard (and a taste of some of The Dell's award winning Welsh wine), the two businesses realised they had a shared passion for both reducing waste and creating quality drinks products. So they decided that instead of the leftover skins, pulp and seeds from the winemaking process being discarded for compost, these flavour-packed waste products could be used for something different. And thus the idea for a Pinot Noir Gin was born.

Y Gwyllgi is a juicy and naturally hazy gin made for mixing in a negroni or adding to tonic for a festive G&T (it tastes incredibly festive!). And if you're wondering where the name came from, the blazing red of the gin reminded Dan from the Dell of the frightful red eyes of the Gwyllgi, a mythical beast of Welsh legend.

To keep the local collaboration going, they even used a local Wye Valley illustrator Dan Bright to illustrate this beast on the logo.

Only 200 bottles of this gin have been made, so get yours now, just in time for Christmas!

Click here to buy a bottle

Zambian Forest Honey Traditional Mead

The guys at Hive Mind Mead & Brew Co. are no strangers to making delicious, award winning drinks made from their local Monmouthshire hives. In fact, their Traditional Mead won the Golden Fork at this year's Great Taste Awards as the best food and drink product in Wales! 

But they'll be the first to tell you that the taste and texture of the mead can change depending on the provenance of the honey, so they leapt on the chance to support the 30th anniversary of Monmouth's Bees for Development charity by using organic Zambian Forest honey to make a brand new mead. This mead is a great alternative to port, with its darker colour and flavour profile offering a sweet / smokey accompaniment with dessert or cheese.

As well as supporting beekeepers in Zambia by purchasing the honey, ten percent of profits from sales of the new mead will be donated to Bees for Development by Hive Mind. Bees for Development has long believed that beekeeping can help some of the poorest communities of the world have a reliable income for life. Beekeeping works so well because bees are self-sustaining, providing honey and other products for almost no financial outlay, while they also pollinate crops and wild plants. 

So this collaboration is a perfect way to blend Hive Mind's local skills, with Bees for Development's global focus (and it doesn't hurt that this blend creates a tasty treat!).

Hive Mind Zambian Mead is available in a 70cl bottle at 14.5 % ABV and retails for £30.00 RRP. It is sold online at hivemindmead.com, at The Bee Shop in Monmouth and through independent retailers via distribution from the Craft Drink Co.