Stuart Nickerson has been working in the spirits business since 1979 in Scotland. He has managed distilleries throughout his career and latterly owned them too.  He and his wife Wilma were part of a four-person team that began their own distillery in the highlands called Shetland Reel and they are one of the great gins coming out of Scotland today. 

His astute daughter Jennifer is a qualified chartered accountant and tax advisor but growing up around the business of spirits and watching her father blend, mature and design whiskies and gins for the international market had its effect. She was always going to end up in the spirits business in some form or other. She set up Tipperary Boutique Distillery in 2014, bringing her father along as production consultant. He spends his time between the two distilleries and together they have just launched Tipperary Boutique Gin. 

The Gin is a very citrus forward, sweet and heady spirit with strong juniper notes. High volume of botanicals combined with a lack of chill filtration creates a beautiful pearlescent cloud when topped with ice or tonic. It is wonderfully refreshing. A gin so heavy on botanicals will really enjoy a burst of citrus and we’ve chosen Poachers Citrus tonic to pair with this month’s gin. There are orange and lemon notes with fresh rosemary infused through the tonic too.

In keeping your Gin Box totally Irish, we managed to source a Festive Cracker with two candle votives from Purcell and Woodcock for you this month. Each festive candle contains two Cinnamon and White ginger candles, captivating and filling your home with festive fragrances, lovely! 

What Tipperary Gin Box would be complete without a bag of O’Donnell’s crisps. O’Donnells have been perfecting the perfect potato since the 1700’s. In the early 2000’s, farming was looking pretty bleak in Tipperary, so Ed O’Donnell took the family in a new direction, and we are all the better for it. Since then they have been steadily increasing market share and continue to add new flavours all the time. 

Lastly, we have included some Mella’s Fudge. Mella is based in Clonakilty and she makes fudge the old-fashioned way. She’s not from Tipperary, nor is the fudge, we just really like it and you only need a tiny bit for a lot of joy! 

Enjoy this month’s gin, and thanks for your support on behalf of our team, and all of the suppliers who have brought you their products during 2021. It’s been a strange old year, but we do hope that your Gin Box has brought you some joy throughout the year. 

Have a wonderful Christmas and thanks again for supporting a small Irish owned Business.