New north-east gin wins rare accolade at international competition
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Raven Spirits has secured a rare Master medal for its new expression – Hrafn Gin Valkyrie – at the prestigious International Gin Masters 2021 competition in London.
Hosted by The Spirits Business, the awards recognise the best of each category in spirit distillation, taking a special interest in global gin brands.
Valkyrie was blind tasted against global competitors in the London Dry category by independent judges, with no brand affiliations. The award of a Master medal is the pinnacle accolade and rare.
The gin was only released at the start of June and also received a Gold medal in the Premium category. For the award of a Master medal every judge must score the gin at over 90 per cent. To achieve a Gold medal requires an aggregate score, from the judges, of over 90 per cent.
Just three years old, Inverurie-based Hrafn Gin is now represented in Asia and North America and the first consignment of Valkyrie has already been dispatched to Hong Kong.
Managing director and co-founder of Raven Spirits Callum Sim said: “The Covid lockdowns presented an opportunity to expand development of the Hrafn Gin brand and new editions to our range.
"Valkyrie is the first of these and launched on June 1. For it to be awarded a Master medal for the London Dry category, in addition to a Gold medal for the Premium category is a remarkable achievement for us.
"It is a delight to have validation of this nature for our hard work. It really is special.”
Callum’s brother, Peter, operations director, and co-founder, was equally delighted.
He said: "Building on our experience we wanted to create a lighter expression that still portrayed our hallmarks of a smooth, deeper flavoured gin, with a lingering finish.
"We are pleased Valkyrie has been so well received. Our expanded range with these latest awards has strengthened our position to further grow the business with new partners and distributors.”
