This is a rock solid gin that does everything I like in a martini.

It’s smooth. The botanicals are juniper leading. It’s also a little bit stronger than most standard gins for that added kick.

It tastes of establishment but is a relative newcomer. How can this be? Expertise and well-thought out planning, coupled with what I can only imagine is hard work by the founder and crew.

The gin is made on the banks of Loch Erne in County Fermanagh. It is the first legal distillery in the county since 1890.

The distillery itself is situated on the site of a disused boatyard which inspired the imagery and the name. The branding is beautiful with oceanic insignia, ropework and shipping motifs.

The gin has only been sold since 2016. Amazing, then, that it should ooze such a sense of well-groomed, traditional permanence. The bottle and the spirit within it contain a real sense of presence and an air of “we’ve always been here” despite being only a few years old.

The first venue Double Boatyard was stocked in outside of Ireland was the famed American Bar at the Savoy Hotel in London which is very strong testament to the quality.

The founder Joe McGirr is a veteran of the Scottish spirits industry so I’m going to put it down to his eye, taste and experience he built up while over the water. It is a lovely story that he strived to set up this venture back where he grew up, curating local expertise and creating what I hope remains a long-standing success story for the community in this part of the north of Ireland.

When served chilled and neat there is the tiniest hint of fire in the drink but in a pleasant warming sense.

The ‘double’ in the name refers to the extra strength of the juniper flavouring, a result of the double ‘contact’ that the juniper has with the spirit during the preparation and distillation process. I wholeheartedly endorse this principle.

The gin world has been rinsed with non-juniper botanicals in recent years and while much of it has been good, it sometimes feels like the industry has lost its way with certain challenging flavour profiles, overcome with unbridled conceptual marketing, sometimes at the expense of quality and even sense.

Nonetheless, the good will out, and Double Boatyard gin is good.

I normally like my martinis with a twist of lemon but the robust strength and flavour profile of this gin goes very well with olives as well. I thought it went particularly nicely with kalamata olives.

It’s also a completely reliable gin and tonic. The juniper-led botanicals are not overly perfumed but the juniper strength means that it tastes true to the drink’s 1800s origins. It’s just what you’d imagine if you thought of a “good, stiff drink” perhaps ordered at the end of a long voyage. It’s the sort of gin and tonic I’d want to drink on a flight.

The distillers recommend a slice of grapefruit which I very much love. This photo looks rather lemon-like because there’s nothing in it to scale but I assure you, it’s a lovely sweet and sour grapefruit and it went beautifully with my aperitif.

Gin and tonics aside, this is an excellent gin for a martini, with a good, strong, old fashioned flavour profile and that extra kick of strength to really hit the spot at the end of a long day.

Savour the juniper and enjoy that extra strength. You can find out more at the distillery website here.

Slàinte!