The English Spirit guide to Easter
Did you give up chocolate or alcohol for Lent or are you superhuman and gave up both? If you’ve kept to your promise under the current circumstances, then I would personally come and shake your hand except I’m not allowed to. I will simply send you a digital salute instead, for having a far stronger will than I have managed. The working from home and home schooling has left me craving a mid-week tipple and dipping into the children’s chocolate stash when they have finally gone to bed!
Easter marks the end of Lent and I still don’t know where those last few weeks have gone, especially as we’re all supposed to be doing less.Whether you’d normally be going to church, meeting family and friends or arranging chocolate hunts for the children, Easter 2020 will be different. Luckily the supermarkets are still selling Easter eggs and whilst we can’t come and see you at the numerous events we had planned we can still help you choose some grown up treats to enjoy over the Easter period with our guide below. Don’t forget everything is 10% off at the moment with free delivery on orders over £50, using the code SHOP10.
Seax Vodka (42% ABV, 50cl)
2020 saw the release of our long awaited Seax Vodka. Celebrating the heritage and provenance of Essex with our signature East Anglian sugar beet base ingredent, we bring you a luxurious, smooth and creamy sip: with big notes of vanilla and cream soda. Our Master Distiller Dr John Walters says "The finesse of a good vodka provides a different experience to the flavours of a dark spirit like rum or malt. Delicate on the palate but full of flavour: simply gorgeous."
Unlike mass produced vodkas, and thanks to our small batch distilling methods, Seax Vodka is so smooth it can be enjoyed neat. You’ve got more time so prepare a chilled glass and sip rather than shot as that would be a waste. You can also lengthen the taste experience with your favourite mixer or use as a base for a sublime espresso martini.
English Spiced Rum (42% ABV, 50cl)
Whilst you can’t go out to try the new trend of rum drinking, order some in. We have three in our range plus some divine rum liqueurs. Spiced Rum is what everyone is talking about, and there’s a lot of talk about ours as it’s so unique.
The base rum is made from 100% molasses, triple distilled at Great Yeldham Hall, and aged in English oak barrels. As for the spices, we've waved away the usual hot and spicy ingredients for more fruity and floral mix: cherry, hibiscus and ginger. It doesn't come more English than that. Here’s our recipe for an idyllic Alcoholic Assam. No worries if you can’t get the ingredients as it’s also enjoyable neat:
50ml English Spiced Rum 50ml tonic water Half a hand of fresh mint leaves Two slices of ginger, halved Muddle the rum, mint and ginger together. Add ice and tonic, and enjoy.
Plum Gin Liqueur (22% ABV, 50cl)
All our fruit gin liqueurs are just perfect for Springtime with their pretty shades and bursts of flavour. Our feature in this article is Plum. We use East of England Victoria plums that have been distilled, macerated and sous vide (slow cooked) with one of our delicate gins: we're the only distillery we know of to take such care for extracting the fresh fruit flavour from our ingredients.
As it’s a liqueur it works well in a chilled glass or over some ice if you have some. You could also make it into a longer drink with a splash of tonic.
Chocolate Chilli Vodka Liqueur (25% ABV, 50cl)
Finally, there’s no getting away from the fact that Easter brings with it a fair amount of chocolate. If you can’t get some egg shaped chocolate, then any shape will do. If you’re avoiding the big shops, then why not spend some time looking up a British chocolatier. They could really do with your support and you’re very likely to enjoy the experience far more if, like our products the chocolate is hand crafted and small batch.
Whilst the kids are out hunting in the garden you can then break off a chunk and sip on a glass of our Chocolate Chilli Liqueur; the ultimate treat of smooth decadence with just a hint of grown up spice.
We think we’ve at least got some good weather over Easter so serve over ice or cream soda, but this liqueur works just as well in a hot chocolate or coffee if it’s chilly – pardon the pun!
So far we’ve been kept busy with our online orders so thank you for your support. We’re experiencing a high demand so get in touch soon if you’d like something in time for Easter. As well as treating yourself why not have something delivered to someone that you’d normally see over Easter. We like to think of it as a ‘hug in a bottle’.
Don’t worry though, there’s enough stock to share around. So much so that John has turned his expertise and distillery equipment to the important task of producing key ingredients for hand sanitiser manufacturers. We’re very proud that English Spirit can make this contribution.
Happy Easter and I wish you the very best of health on behalf of John and the team at English Spirit.
Sarah is an English Spirit Ambassador and Distillery Tour Guide, based near Great Yeldham in Essex.