Hajduk Spirit Artisan Distillery Releases Serbia's First Premium Craft Gin

KRALJEVO, Serbia - Jan. 22, 2019 - PRLog -- Hajduk Spirit's founder & creator, Marko Srdanov wanted to create the first premium Serbian craft gin and from pure, high quality botanicals used in traditional Serbian herbal medicine. His artisan distillery represents the strength, dedication and ingenuity of the Serbian 19th Century freedom fighters known as Hajduks.

"It is my intention to bring to people a uniquely different gin that embodies the flavours of Serbia" says Marko Srdanov. "To illustrate the level of excellence a Serbian distillery can bring to the world of gin".

The Hajduk Spirit Gin is made using 8 botanicals, the signature ingredient Wild Bilberry is hand harvested deep in the south western mountains of Serbia along with the Serbian Juniper. The high flavours of these two ingredients are brought down to earth by Gentian root, a central ingredient in Serbian traditional herbal medicine.

Hajduk Spirit Distillery launched their premium gin at Christmas 2018 in Serbia, with a recommended retail price of 38€ and is available in a 700ml bottle at 44.8% ABV. Distillation is completed slowly over 6 hours using the 'one-shot' distillation method, in their custom built copper still, to create an earthy gin with a bouquet of the mountain forests of Serbia.

TASTING NOTES

Nose: Pronounced Juniper in the traditional style of Gin. Wild Bilberry and Yarrow provide freshness reminiscent of Serbia's coniferous forests.

Taste: Earthy with a pronounced juniper and bilberry flavour ending in a herbal finish.  A traditional Gin in its use of Juniper as a dominant flavour infused with botanical notes representative of Serbian flavours.

"To create a uniquely Serbian flavour profile I did away with new world flavours. From the outset it was a matter of 'if it doesn't grow in Serbia it isn't going in the gin' says Marko Srdanov. "Gin's own history stems from its medicinal uses, considering the extensive herbal usage in Serbian traditional medicine it naturally drew me to create a gin that pays respect to that past from a Serbian point of view".

The Hajduk Spirit Gin is best enjoyed with a tonic as well as neat with a twist of orange on the rocks. In particular when had as cocktail 'Orange Blossom' the various floral notes come to the fore.

ABOUT HAJDUK SPIRIT DISTILLERY

The Distillery is located on the outskirts of the town of Kraljevo, Central Serbia.  Close to the historic Žiča monastery where 7 Serbian Kings of old were crowned.

After 25 years living in Sydney Australia, the founder of Hajduk (Hai-dook) Distillery, Marko Srdanov returned to his family estate near the town of Kraljevo, Serbia. Following in the footsteps of his great grandfather's he founded the Hajduk Distillery on the estate they had worked and lived on since 1795.

The distillery is focused on small batch releases with a focus on premium products made from the highest quality botanicals. Serbia is a country with a long tradition of distilling going back to the 15th century when Ottoman traders brought alembic copper stills to the region. Even today every village has at least one copper still that is shared to make Rakija, a Serbian style of fruit brandy.

https://www.hajdukspirit.com/