Based on Barry Island, husband and wife owned Barry Island Spirits Co has been named among the top food and drink producers globally this year, picking up two highly prized 1-star Great Taste awards for its Botanical Spiced Rum and Pink Dry Gin.
More than14,000 products were put through the competition’s rigorous blind judging process; and the two spirits from Barry Island Spirits Co were dubbed ‘delicious’ at the world’s most coveted food and drink awards. 4,078 products were awarded a Great Taste 1-star –‘food and drink that delivers fantastic flavour’, 1,237 were awarded a Great Taste 2-star – ‘above and beyond delicious’, and 241 were awarded a Great Taste3-star – ‘extraordinarily tasty food and drink’.
Both products were a big hit with the Great Taste judges. Barry Island Pink Dry Gin, which was recently named a winner in the Gin Guide 2022 Awards, was described as a “delicately coloured gin is bursting with fruit and floral aromas” with “good length and complexity”. Barry Island Botanical Spiced Rum was praised as “a youthful, zesty rum with well-managed, ample spice on nose and palate. Thefinish is nicely rounded. Well managed and nicely sippable over ice”.
The spirits were two of 5,556 products to receive a Great Taste award in 2022(which is only 39.1% of the total products entered).
What is Great Taste?
Recognised as a stamp of excellence and actively sought out by food lovers and retailers alike, Great Taste, organised by the Guild of Fine Food, values taste above all else. All products in the line-up for judging are blind-tasted: every product is removed from its packaging so it cannot be identified, before entering a robust, layered judging process.
This year, the judging took place over 90 days across two judging locations (Dorset and London) with a panel of more than 500 judges. This year’s line-up saw food and drink products submitted from a staggering 110 different countries from across the world.
Claire and Tim Whalley, the husband-and-wife team behind Barry Island Spirits Co commented: “We are delighted to have won Great Taste awards for our Pink Gin and our Spiced Rum. Our Barry Island Welsh Dry Gin picked up a Great Taste gold star in the 2021awards, so to have recognition for two more of our products this year is amazing. We’re incredibly proud that three of our products have earnt the iconic black and gold Great Taste logo”.
“Barry Island Spirits Co is the accidental business. Born through our desire for high quality, small batch Welsh spirits for our bar, Craft Republic in Barry. We never anticipated the demand and popularity of our spirits outside of just having them at the bar, so to be where we are today is just wonderful.
“Beingrecognised with a Great Taste 1-star means so much to independent producers like us, as it makes all the hard work and determination worth it! Great Taste is the most recognised accolade for taste and quality in the food and drink world, so it really is a big win!” Tim and Claire concluded.
Celebratory Pop Up Events
It’s not just corks that Claire and Tim are popping to celebrate the win. They have a lined up a series of popup events over the coming months to enable curious consumers to sample their range of spirits.
Starting with Treorchy’s inaugural Food &Drink Festival on Saturday 27 August where they’ll be serving up their spirits alongside a range of other drinks. Barry Island Spirits Co have then teamed up with Fonmon Castle to host an end of summer celebration on Thursday 1 September. Details and tickets are available through Fonmon Castle. Throughout September the team have secured pop ups in Cardiff’s St David’s arcade on 3and of September and McArthurlen Designer Outlet Village Bridgend on 1 and 18 September.
Award Winning Spirits
Pink Grapefruit, Rosemary, Raspberries and Black Peppercorn form the botanical quartet in Barry Island Spirits’ small batch Pink Dry Gin. Fresh, fruity and unsweetened, Barry Island Pink Dry Gin (37.5%) is unique, balanced and utterly delicious. The Great Taste Gold Star follows Barry Island Pink Gin’s success at the international-recognised Gin Guide Awards where the spirit was named a winner in the flavoured gin category.
Unique and small batch, Barry Island Botanical Spiced Rum (40%) was inspired by the produce carried on ships that used to pass the beautiful South Wales coastline on their way to Barry Docks. 3 year old molasses-based Guyanese rum is spiced with all natural botanicals through traditional methods over several days.
Both products are available to buy online directly from Barry Island Spirits Co as well as a number of independent stockists including Pugh’s Garden Centres, Wally’s Deli in Cardiff, Craft Republic in Barry, Hamlet in Wokingham and most recently St Fagans National Museum of History in Cardiff.
For more information about Barry Island Spirits Co visit www.barryislandspirits.co
Established in 2021, Barry Island Spirits Co is a small, family-run independent spirits business specialising in creating premium, small-batch spirits from the purest Welsh water. Based in the Vale of Glamorgan, the recipes for Barry Island Spirits have been inspired by the natural environment around the beautiful South Wales coastline. The Barry Island Spirits Co range includes Barry Island Welsh Dry Gin (40%), Pink Dry Gin(37.5%), Barry Island Botanical Spiced Rum (40%) and Barry Island Organic Welsh Vodka (40%). Products are available in striking, custom designed70cl and 5cl bottles.
The 2022 Gin Guide Awards named Barry Island Pink Dry Gin as a Flavoured Gin category winner, Barry Island Dry Gin as Highly Commended (Traditional Gin Category) and Barry Island Spirits as a Design &Branding Winner. Barry Island Welsh Dry Gin won a Great Taste award in 2021 with judges saying it’s a “beautifully balanced gin”
