The MONKEY 47 Distiller’s Cut 2024 is a spicy and elegant dry gin, with a hint of the sea, sweetly nutty, against a background of exceptional density and complexity. It is a remarkable flavor experience, and not only for those who want to think themselves away onto that small volcanic island in the Mediterranean. Cheers!

Last year we found what we were looking for 7.000 kilometres away – in Canada, to be precise whereas this year we came across our 48th ingredient while having dinner at our favourite Italian restaurant right around the corner.

How did we manage that? Well, with an absolute classic dish: pasta with anchovies and capers. But let’s take things one step at a time. As we were enjoying the capers, we soon realised that they provide a fine symphony of flavors and are more than just a garnish for a tried-and-tested recipe. We don’t like to hang about, so in no time at all we set off in search of the best of its kind and ended up on the small, enchanting volcanic island of Pantelleria, right in the middle of the Strait of Sicily in the Mediterranean.

The closed flower bud is harvested shortly before it blooms and is immediately placed in salt, dehydrated and the water is removed. This first salting is crucial for developing that typical, tangy and slightly pungent flavor. For the second salting, which helps with the maturing process, the capers are skimmed off batch by batch, transferred to fresh vats and left in the new salt for around a month with daily mixing. This is how the small capers from Pantelleria get their unique and distinctive flavor: nutty, pure and elegant, with a pronounced sweetness and an intense aroma. It’s really a perfect match for our distillate in both flavor and aroma.