At Hamburg Zanzibar. Turmeric is not something you usually associate with gin (more with curries), but then you wouldn’t expect a two-person strong start-up (a biologist and a yoga teacher) to win three top gongs in the World Gin Awards either. Hauke (German precision) and Yuka (Japanese creativity) started to make gin using some turmeric leftover from their holiday on Sansibar in 2017 and decided to give up the day jobs to concentrate on gin-making, just before the first Corona lockdown. The Gin Awards in 2021 meant they could move out of their kitchen and set up Hamburg’s smallest gin distillery. We were bowled over by the two gins we tasted with Hauke: Sky Gin – a fresh as a daisy summer gin with aromas of citrus, pink grapefruit, seaweed, red pepper, ginger, angelica root and a touch of lavender and Turmeric Raw Gin – a deeper coloured, wild, winter gin with earthy, woody aromas, black pepper and a touch of Coca-cola bitterness on the finish. Hats off to you Hauke and Yuka.
