At Hand Crafted Drinks Magazine we write headlines that condense the essence of the story that we’re covering and in the case of the liqueurs we have sampled from Hogg Norton, the headline just about does their products justice.
We recently had the privilege of meeting the owners of Hogg Norton, a Derbyshire-based producer of alcoholic liqueurs, whose products had again been recognised at the annual Great Taste awards – a story that we covered on 28 August.
At their production facilities in a village on the edge of the Peak District National Park, Mike Norton and Adrian Hogg, the founders of the company, are clearly passionate about their liqueurs, which are produced using fresh, locally-sourced fruit wherever possible.
As we reported in August, they don’t use any additives or preservatives so all the colour and flavour comes just from the fruits, which means they are suitable for vegetarians and vegans, and are naturally dairy and gluten free.
So, lots of boxes ticked, but the proof of the pudding…
At the end of our visit we were given a gift pack of eight of their liqueurs, including Strawberry, Elderflower, Gooseberry, Raspberry, Sour Cherry, Limoncello, Spiced Plum and Blackberry.
Having sampled some of the liqueurs during our tour we couldn’t wait to get back to the office.
Each liqueur was sampled neat without any mixers and without exception every one we tasted was rich and full-bodied, with the respective flavours delivering a powerful, fruity hit.
We can see Spiced Plum being popular over festive periods, which we felt was essentially Christmas in a bottle and their Elderflower liqueur would be the ideal base for summer cocktail or simply mixed with sparkling wine.
The Blackberry was perhaps the richest, in terms of pure depth of flavour, but every other fruit liqueur we tasted was superb and it was hard to pick a favourite. If we had to get off the fence we would have to choose the Limoncello – the essence of Sorrento in one smooth, powerful zesty liqueur.
For more information visit their website