To enter the site you must be strictly of age. Access prohibited to those who have not exceeded the threshold of strong emotions. Date of birth to be entered in order to receive the Gin Pass, the one that allows you to enter the exclusive world of alcohol par excellence, consumed like a river in flood in the most remote corners of strong drinking. In every corner of this journey, in the land of ancient stills and barrels, the reference to the forbidden is constant, almost the hell of spirits, to be consumed in a storm of lightning and dreams. Just like that wild hare, crossed with an American antelope, imagined in a whirlwind of feet and horns, which stands out on the main facade of this old-time distillery, nestled between green hills and mythological lakes.
2,600 km away
Drumshanbo, less than a thousand inhabitants, County Leitrim, in the heart of the deepest Ireland, is “just” 2,600 km from Siniscola, Baronia, land of Sardinia, passing through the English Channel. Almost on the other side of Europe. Yet, in this dark-roofed shed, transformed into a carnival for a thousand and one nights drink connoisseurs, thanks to a jackpot made up of exclusive and daring intuitions, a real genetically Sardinian alcoholic "lightning bolt" was generated. A devil, capable of putting together tea, the most oriental one, taken in distant China, with "gunpowder", transforming those essences of Sardinia into a "Gin" as original as it is daring, capable of breaking the markets and turning pale the most accustomed drinkers of "Filu 'e ferru".
Gin Demon
What this alcoholic hermitage in the deepest land of Ireland had to do with the Cedrino valley, between Siniscola and Orosei, can only be known by that demon who creates alcohol like storms generate lightning and thunderbolts. He is Pat Rigney, founder of Shed Distillery, the Irish distillery that mixes the East with the land of the Nuraghi. Travel through boundless earth coordinates like an astronaut discovering the unknown, until he crosses, between the 40th and 41st North Parallel, the capital of the rarest citrus fruit in the world, the Citrus Monstruosa, known for all as “Sa Pompia”. The producer of the most famous Irish gin lands in Siniscola wandering among the turquoise waters of the Mediterranean Sea, until he enters the inner secret of the island of Sardinia. He does not reveal the details, but attributes the discovery of the unknown citrus fruit to the hospitable inhabitants of the Sardinian town. They would have made him taste it in all sauces, versatile as few, original and exclusive, from the typical sweet of the Pompia, “su Pistiddu”, to the fruit soaked in honey, from the liqueur to the aromatic essence. But no one knew who that lord from the green lands of Northern Europe really was.
The Curious Mind
He recorded everything, inquired as an inexperienced neophyte and an unsuspecting occasional tourist. Actually his name in Ireland is "The Curious Mind". And, in fact, it didn't take long to understand that that fruit without any protection, without a trademark that protected its imitations and use, could become the "explosive" ingredient to launch on the world market a Gin capable of assembling the fires of artifice with the essences of Chinese tea and precisely the Sardinian brand of "Pompia". When he returns to the promised land of spirits par excellence, he doesn't think twice about putting into practice what his bizarre head makes him mull over since leaving the crossroads of the Cedrino valley, between Siniscola and Orosei.
The alchemist of Pompia
The intuition is that of the still master, alchemist par excellence, capable of glimpsing what others will never be able to imagine. After all, its motion is imprinted on fire throughout this almost monastic hermitage of Drumshanbo: putting opposites together, uniting what may seem totally detached. For him the rule is to look at "concoctions" where others do not see them. The rule requires him to set aside tried and tested solutions to venture into an unexplored land. This is how the explosive recipe of Drumshanbo Gunpowder Gin Sardinian Citrus was born , the all-Sardinian evolution of the best-selling Irish Gin in the world. The production process, refined and exclusive, complete with a Sardinian emblem registered in the world, is secret. No doses and no details.
Sardinia on the label
Certainly in this Gin with Sardinia in full evidence on the English-speaking label there is the Citrus monstruosa, “Sa Pompia”, what they themselves certify as one of the rarest citrus fruits in the world that is found only on the island of Sardinia. In those medieval copper stills only the botanical essences are slowly distilled, while the Sardinian fruit and the Gunpowder, Chinese tea, on the other hand, are steam infused. The distillate "rests" for a week before reaching an alcohol content of 43% with filtered water.
Gunpowder
The result, for gin sommeliers, is disruptive: the exotic oriental flavors of Gunpowder mixed with the exclusive wit of Siniscola's “Sa Pompia” and blown up with the “gunpowder” of Irish Gin. The worldwide launch is complete: Gunpowder Irish Gin Sardinian Citrus . The commercial orders of this new product raise the news in the Irish economic newspapers and beyond: the world demand for Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin with Sardinian citrus fruits is enormous, the Irish declare. The landing in the United States is marked by the tow of the super premium, but the Gin di Pompia sarda has already crossed the Seine and the Danube, from France to Germany.
Pompia Gin in the world
By the end of the year, "Pompia Gin" will be marketed in 30 countries around the world. In this little village in the Irish “barony” of Leitrim we celebrate. In the heart of Drumshanbo, “the curious mind” and his team of over 50 employees have opened the Shed Distillery Experience, a mix of playground, multi-dimensional museum, cellar and distillery. A center that, according to the forecasts of the patron Pat Rigney, should attract 30,000 visitors by 2023. A fallout calculated for the local economy of 3 million euros. After all, for a country of a thousand inhabitants, business does not seem to be going badly. Despite Covid, turnover in 2020 broke through the 10 million euro ceiling.
First-class prices
After all, that Sardinian brand imprinted in that green bottle of yesteryear has already reached first-class prices: for less than a liter (70 ml) the price is close to 50 euros. All linked to that exclusive, rare and Sardinian fruit like no other. Taken in the land of Sardinia and transformed into the land of Ireland. For centuries cultivated in the silence of the few lands of Siniscola and its surroundings, saved from the traditional use for wedding sweets.
Pat's patch
Of course, in 2004 he entered the Slow Food Presidium, essential oils and various food uses were obtained, but the only official recognition is that of Pat, Traditional Agri-food Products. A useless and inconsistent decree of the Minister of Agriculture which expressly states: "The inclusion of a product in the aforementioned list does not constitute rights resulting from its publication and any reference to the geographical name does not constitute recognition of the origin or provenance of the product from territory to which the aforementioned geographical name can be traced back ». As if to say, Irish people around the world do what you want at Pompia. After all, that fruit called scientifically and improperly "monstrous lemon" no one has ever protected it. Those 700 grams of Sardinian originality, as much as a Pompia fruit can weigh, pockmarked like a lunar soil, has an exclusive feature: it is among the rarest citrus fruits in the world. Vox populi says that Sicilians and Campania have already ordered thousands of plants. After the Irish robbery we also miss the Sicilian-Campania one.