Global launch for Pernod Ricard Method & Madness Irish gin

Pernod Ricard Global Travel Retail will launch Method & Madness Irish gin across EMEA, India, Pacific and South East Asia from July.

Method & Madness is the first gin release from Irish Distillers’ Midleton Micro Distillery. It's infused with 16 botanicals, including Black Lemon and Irish Gorse Flowers, and presented in a distinctive bottle.

Pernod Ricard has kicked off its travel retail launch at Dublin Airport with a video detailing Method & Madness’ distilling process and the brand featured on more than 100 screens throughout the airport.

It builds on the success of Method & Madness whiskey, which launched last year and was quickly acclaimed by the Irish Whiskey Awards.

Method & Madness Single Malt French Limousin and Method & Madness Single Grain Virgin Spanish Oak Finish both won Gold Medals at the Awards.

Irish craft gins continue to enjoy rapid growth with the value of exports of Irish gin from the Republic of Ireland soared 213% to €4.2m in first nine months of 2018, according to the Alcohol Beverage Federation of Ireland.

Led by master distiller Brian Nation, Method & Madness has been distilled in ‘Mickey’s Belly’, Ireland’s oldest gin still, which was first commissioned in 1958 at Midleton Distillery.

The gin itself is the result of an exploration into historic gin recipes from 1798, which have been preserved at Midleton Distillery, together with months of research into how botanicals work together to create unique flavours in gin.

A notebook kept in the Midleton Distillery archive dating back to the 1790s, written by a rectifier in Cork called William Coldwell, details recipes, botanicals and methods that led to the creation of Irish Distillers’ Cork Crimson Gin in 2005. A premium pot still gin, Cork Crimson Gin provided the primary inspiration for Brian in reimagining the recipe for Method and Madness Gin.

Nation said: “The release of our Method and Madness gin represents the next chapter in the story of us rewriting what a modern Irish spirits company can be. Through our work with the apprentices at the micro-distillery, Midleton, we continue to innovate and experiment with different grains, distillation methods and spirit types and look forward to sharing our creations with the world in the coming years."