New Gin launched from…. Turre!

Turre is the unlikely birthplace of a new brand of gin, the first and only gin made in the province.

“Portomagno Gin” has been developed by local couple Isabel Ruiz and Manuel Crespo, who hit on the recipe after sharing an interest in home brew distillery. They experimented with several rums and wines before deciding to make a cereal gin, and so Portomagno Gin was discovered.

Isabel Ruiz, a trained laboratory technician, knows her way around distilleries and Manuel was in charge of trying out the gin. This wasn’t a solo effort, as much fun as this sounds: the recipe was developed initially from feedback from friends and family, and then Manuel spent most of this summer down the beaches with lots of samples and questionnaires, getting honest feedback from people he stopped on the playa and offered a taster.

They registered the brandname late last year and started development on the first batch, which is now on the shelves. The gin “with a taste of Almería” is on the shelves in the Super Cash and Super Eco supermarkets (see Garrucha or Antas), as well as a number of local bars and they have picked up their first distributor, J&C distribuciones.

The couple say they are delighted with the feedback they are getting for their gin, and almost all of the first 250 bottles have been sold. The second batch of 3,000 bottles is about to be launched, and they are in discussions to put out the second batch via distributors in Madrid, Galicia and Barcelona.

Portomagno, in case you’re wondering, is the Roman name for the city of Almería, great port in Latin.

It’s taste? A unique blend of local produce, a cereal gin with local aromas of juniper, coriander, orange blossom and citrus.