Machine House and Tappers Gin – A unique partnership and Flavour #Blog

Stephen Wundke
6th August 2018

Culinary collaboration behind Machine House Gin

The gin craze shows no sign of slowing down and this month sees the release of a new boutique edition from a culinary collaboration between two businesses with a shared passion for flavour.

Chef Kevin Lynn at the award-winning Machine House Restaurant in Rosset, has teamed up with Tappers, producers of award-winning artisan spirits in West Kirby, Wirral, to develop a recipe using freshly foraged marsh samphire from the Conwy coastline.

Machine House Gin is a seaside affair, pairing up Lynn’s passion for fresh, local produce, and Tappers’ expertise when it comes to using those ingredients to produce flavoursome, complex spirits. The result? A savoury gin with a hint of sea salt and burst of citrus in what they describe as a “celebration of nature’s gifts along the Welsh coast”. We tasted it recently and thought it was just magic. Some lovely Fevertree tonic with fresh samphire in the glass and lots of ice provided us with a hit of citrus and salt and clean fresh gin that just made this G&T another unique Machine House flavour. We loved it.

Lynn, who has already received recognition for the quality of his cuisine with two rosettes from the AA and an entry for Machine House Restaurant in the Michelin Guide, is a firm believer in using the natural larder provided by the countryside. He forages along the River Conwy for coastal ingredients to use in his cuisine and came up with the idea to develop a gin using the samphire he collects. He contacted Tappers to see what could be done, and the idea quickly became reality.

His choice to work with Tappers isn’t coincidence: they’re no strangers to working with unusual coastal botanicals and their signature Darkside Gin – also inspired by the coast – has received international accolades for quality. The recipe for Darkside (named as a nod to Wirral-Liverpool rivalry) uses sea beet, which they partly forage around the Wirral Peninsula and partly source from Fraser Christian of River Cottage fame. Tappers has a huge following among chefs and foodies alike and can be found in around eight Michelin starred restaurants across the UK so far.

“Producing something in collaboration with a chef of Kevin’s calibre is a dream job really”, said Steve Tapril, founder and distiller at Tappers. “Half the work is already done: he shares our passion for quality ingredients and flavour and knows exactly what he’s after”.

Samphire often accompanies seafood so Tapril decided to pair the savoury coastal plant with lemon balm and kaffir lime leaves to add a layer of crisp citrus.

“The process was made much easier because we were working with such quality  ingredients”, Tapril explained.

Machine House Gin is available to order from Machine House Restaurant (www.machinehouse.co.uk) and online from Tappers Distillery (www.tappersgin.com/shop/machinehouse).