Dodd’s is a brand that is currently owned and produced by The London Distilling Company.
They were first started in 2011 by Darren Rook and Nick Taylor, but their story started over 200 years before that.
The London Distilling Company was first imagined by one Ralph Dodd, a businessman who wanted to create high quality spirits in England’s capital. It wasn’t just the draw of producing spirits in London, but also the chance to create the very finest British spirits, that inspired Dodd to come up with the idea.
However, his dream did not last long. After he had drawn up the idea and presented it to potential investors, it was shot down, never to be heard from again.
Well, that was until Rook and Taylor saw the chance to create an innovative and daring brand around Dodd’s original idea.
The pair brought the dream back to life when they set up The London Distilling Company in 2011.
From here it has grown and blossomed, becoming one of the most successful distilleries in England.
While they aim to be more focussed on Whisky in the future, their current product range consists mainly of Gin.
They first released Dodd’s Gin (named for Ralph Dodd of course) in 2013, to great success.
They have been creating it ever since and in 2015 they released an exclusive barrel aged expression for Fortnum & Mason, to commemorate the success of the first one.
There were only 300 bottles made. Each was hand bottled and has a strength of 50.3%. It was made by blending a range of different casks, which were sourced from Kings County Distillery in New York.
The Gin was aged for a variety of time periods, incuding 45 days, 30 days, 19 days and 14 days.
The liquid inside the casks was the same as their original Gin, which has different botanicals, including juniper, cardamom, angelica root, bay leaf, lime peel, red raspberry leaf, and honey.
The flavour profile is very similar to the ogirinal product, but the barrel definitely gives it a sweeter edge.
The nose is dry and full of earthy angelica and juniper. The bay leaves come out here to, but are overpowered by the sweet lime peel.
On the palate, the lime is bold and flavoursome, mixing well with the earthy flavours and giving it a nice freshness.
The barrel flavours come out here too, with lots of wood and vanilla appearing. These go perfectly with the herby notes.
The finish is drying but sweet, with more vanilla and lime, almost like a key lime pie.