Back in 2015, we opened our very first cocktail bar at Northside festival and crafted a special edition gin to mark the moment. Ten years later, we're celebrating that milestone with a gin-based liqueur named “This is not a gin”. It is distilled and infused with 10 botanicals which is a heartfelt nod to the festival and the creative collaboration rooted in Aarhus.
This vibrant liqueur is inspired by the nature surrounding the festival site. Blackberries play a fruity and sweet melody, while cherry plum blossoms and read dead-nettle flowers follow with a soft floral chorus. Wild carrot seeds, carrots and stems of red dead-nettle join with deep, warm and earthy notes, as a base of juniper, coriander seeds, liquorice root, and lemon balm keeps the gin rhythm tight.
This gin liqueur offers a smooth experience both neat and in cocktails. May we suggest a summerly easy-to-make two-component cocktail experience:
4 cl Njord x Northside “This is not a gin”
12 cl Dry tonic
Garnish with a few lemon balm leaves or a lemon peel
The story behind the label:
We write “This is not a gin” on the label because a gin needs to have an alcohol percentage of more than 37,5 in order to be called a gin according to EU-legislation. The label design and the phrase “This is not a gin” is also a reference to the famous surrealistic painter René Magritte’s iconic picture of a pipe and his more than 50 paintings of persons wearing bowler hats. The number of blackberries on the label and the digit sum of 33,22 % abv is by the way a subtle celebration of our 10-year cocktail bar jubilee at Northside. The label is designed by Thomas Svanholm who has also crafted an art poster that is based on his label design.