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The cover of the last miNiZ showed a great bottle made especially for British Airways. The forerunner
of BA was Aircraft Transport and Travel Limited, which launched the world’s first daily international
scheduled service between London and Paris in Aug.1919, so 2019 marks the centenary. They are
having produced a series of ‘Centenary Editions’ mini bottles that they are releasing during 2019.

In what the airline has described
as a “world first”, it has teamed
up with Edinburgh-based
distillery Pickering’s to create a
10-botanical gin designed to be
consumed at altitude. The gin
will be available as part of a trio
pack for £18 on all short haul
flights. Note that the other two
are standard Pickering’s bottles.
The gin has been distilled with
lemon myrtle, the flavour of
which, the brand said, performs
particularly well at altitude,
providing a natural sweetness
that sits alongside floral notes
from heather and rose also used
in the gin. It has been
established that the dry air and
low pressure experienced on
board a plane reduces the
ability to taste and smell, and in
particular to identify sweet and salty flavours. Head distiller and co-founder of Pickering’s, Matt
Gammell, stated: “To banish so-called airplane ‘taste blindness’, we have carefully designed a
botanical flavour profile that enhances what you lack when you’re soaring in the sky. As a distiller,
developing a gin on the ground and then trialling it in the sky at different altitudes was a fascinating
process. We trialled multiple iterations of the recipe in the air until we were confident that it would
taste as good in the sky as it did on the ground.” The Pickering’s Gin is the first of the Centenary
Editions to be released. Look out for others – and send me the pics!

Just in time for this edition, Erica Mulder
has sent us this picture of a new NZ Gin
from The White Sheep Co. of
Whangamata. Erica found the picture
and is trying to get some minis direct
from the company. A vodka is due out
soon also.

Frank Wynn reports yet another new NZ
Gin, Old Biddy from Reefton Distillery on
the West Coast. Their website states:
Created in honour of Reefton legend
Little Biddy, a pipe-smoking, gin-toting,
4 foot tall goldminer. Our search for
native botanicals takes us deep into the
same West Coast rainforest where
Biddy once fossicked for gold, to craft a
uniquely New Zealand gin with a pioneer’s attitude.

Unfortunately, they only had one so Frank could not get any for anyone else,
however, he got it at Liquorland (Palmerston North) so you may find it at your local branch. They also
make a vodka and a whisky. The latter is sold only in small barrels but expect to see the vodka
sometime in 50ml.

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