Product information

Runa Old School Yellow Gin

The Idea

As founder of Runa Vodka, I also wanted to create a unique gin with Swedish character.

To me, camping in the woods is the most Swedish thing there is, pulling up the zipper to the tent one spring morning and smelling the woods; everything from the moss on the ground to spruce sprouts and pine needles, of course with streaks of juniper bushes and resin.

Those were the scents I wanted to convey into liquid form, and when you drink our aged gin, I think you will find these flavors and characteristics.

Background: Aged Gin

The concept of Yellow Gin comes from an old gin tradition, where the gin was transported in wood casks, and the spirit was given tints of yellow if the cask had traveled far. Soon, a liking was taken to the woody flavor of the gin and aging in casks became more common. Some gins are aged longer than 10 years in order to get a rich flavor from the maturing. Different forms of maturing have been used, and it is not uncommon to age the gin in several different casks before it is bottled. However, when it comes to maturing gin, the kind of wood used is not the most important thing, nor is the time of aging. Instead, the focus is on the result; what does the gin taste and smell like? The way the gin’s handled is not the most important part, but the experience of the person enjoying the gin.

In the first ”Savoy Cocktail Book”, published in 1930, there is advertisement for Booth´s Cask-aged gin, and Ernest Hemingway writes about Yellow Gin in connection with the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s. But Yellow Gin originates from the 1850s, before the British issued a requirement that gin had to be transported in bottles instead of casks. Runa Old School Yellow Gin is our tribute to the long tasteful tradition of aged gin.

A little history

DeMany have written about the history of gin, and it is sometimes claimed that it began in the Netherlands, sometimes England, sometimes the 17th Century, and sometimes at the end of the 19th Century. Let the scholars argue about that. We know for certain that Runa began with Gin production in 2014 in Borlänge.

The idea of a good gin for a wide audience climbed up the Runa Vodka AB agenda, and Sankta Anna’s Bränneri AB was given the assignment to create a whole new recipe. In the spring and summer of 2014 they worked with the recipe, and the first sample was presented. In the fall that same year the development work landed with a soft and well rounded gin, which should be drunk straight, with or without ice. The beverage is called Runa Small Batch Gin and can be bought at Systembolaget’s order selection and also goes on export.

The result

The next step in the development was to mature Runa Small Batch Gin for a longer period of time, in order to get the yellow color, a richer scent and a richer flavor that Runa was looking for. We chose juniper wood to stay true to the concept of gin. The result was Runa Old School Yellow Gin, a luxurious gin with a rich scent and full-bodied flavor. To be served unmixed, possibly with an ice cube.

Conclusion

Runa Old School Yellow Gin is produced in small volumes, and each maturation makes between 250 and 500 liters. All bottles are numbered with bottle number and Batch number.