Bye Bird Gin

It was New Years Eve 2024, and I was doing what any self respecting ‘30-something’ year old Birmingham boy would want to do to mark such an occasion… I was sat in the waiting room of the Arnold Clark show room, rinsing their free coffee, whilst waiting for them to finish servicing my wife’s car. 

As I sat slightly jaded, trying to work out why the sound of BBC News wasn’t quite aligned with the movement of the newsreaders lips on the waiting room television, an older looking lady sat down nearby and smiled at me. I responded with a polite smile, and a slight raise of the eyebrows, and immediately knew that I had made a mistake. 

You see, what I had intended to land as a subtle ‘hello, we appear to be both sat here bored and losing the will to live – but let’s not utter a word to each other’ had actually been interpreted as ‘please tell me your entire life story’. Oh boy.

Within a 20 minute window, that in truth felt like a lifetime, I knew all that there was to know about this lady (ironically, everything except for her name now that I come to recall the tale!). 

I knew all about her husband Norman (5 years retired from Pirelli), and Raymond the dog (pronounced Ray-Mond), who was inherited from her son’s ex girlfriend. 

Raymond was viscous by all accounts, but sadly missed since his passing in August. 

Whilst he was quite gentle with the grandkids, he had still managed to bite her (she showed me the scar – obviously). He also once subtly stole her granddaughter’s Fredo chocolate bar (I hadn’t the heart to tell her that, that may have been the cause of death…).

I heard all about how she wants another dog, as she retired on 30th December  2023 and has the time now, but we both went on to acknowledge that dogs can be  too much of a tie & they’ve (her and Norman that is) not been out for NYE in 16 years. I feel like I was party to making a decision with her on a future stance on pets.

I learned that she and Norm (by this point, I feel I am on shorthand name basis) were having the roof done for 2nd time, which is costing a lot. Cowboys did first job (I assume she didn’t mean actual cowboys, as if she did then the low quality standards of the workmanship really can’t be blamed on them – they were never qualified in the first place) but she’s sure it’ll be done right this time. We both are. It’s a bungalow, by the way, which suits them.

As if I could have forgotten, they had moved to Derby in January 2024, so it’s been a busy year for them. But they had a good Christmas – they got their grandkids electric Go Karts for the drive way; the ‘blonde girl’ is cross that Coles red one is faster than hers (he’s the eldest boy, so I’m told). 

I was heartened to hear that she likes Arnold Clark – they (her and Norm) did used to get Volvos from somewhere else in Burton on Trent years ago, but they switched to Arnold Clark when she took offence to a pushy sales person still trying to get her husband to take a BMW that she couldn’t reach her peddles on! 

Hilariously, in a pitfall of painful irony, she had forgotten to put the handbrake on in the carpark this morning, but had moved the seats so far back in readiness for handing over to the mechanic that she couldn’t reach the break. I don’t know, what’s she like ey! 

At some point or another, a receptionist appeared to take mercy (or pity) on me and informed our intrepid storyteller that her car was ready for collection. After having chewed my ear off (metaphorically, not literally) I wished my best to Norman, and with that I said Bye to the old Bird, and she was gone. 

By now my friends, you know me well enough to know that this blog opening is, whilst 100% true, an elaborately constructed tenuous link to the featured gin – it may very well be a new year, but it is still very much the same old me! 

So as I said Bye to one Bird, I said hello to another. She’s a Brazilian beauty who, confusingly in the context of this sentence, is called ‘Bye Bird Gin’. 

Bye Bird Gin; Say hello…

Now, you could be forgiven for raising an eyebrow at the concept of ‘Brazilian Gin’ – but I’ve certainly noticed a growing and exciting trend of gins coming from South America. So this one immediately had my attention. 

In 2016, in line with the gin craze that we saw on our own shores around that time, a trend of producing handcrafted gins began in Brazil. This led to the creation of the first small batch gin with cachaça (sugar cane spirit) – VIRGA GIN, a partnership between the Guadalupe Distillery and the company Espíritos Brasileiros. A few years later, with more experience and modern equipment, Bye Bird Master Distiller, Gabriel, decided to launch his own gin brand. And in 2021, Bye Bird was born – the result of 6 months of extensive botanical research to achieve a good balance with fresh ingredients from the teams very own aromatic garden.

I had the absolute honour and privilege of Judging in my third ‘The Gin Guide Awards’ for 2024, where I blind rated Bye Bird Gin extremely highly (‘Exceptional’) and with the accompanying notes; 

“Bold juniper and Parma-violets dominate the aroma of the gin, with a direct correlation to the flavour profile. There’s a really nice level of sweetness to the gin on the palate – I get candied lemon peels, perfumed violets & rose, with ripe juniper berries. It’s not my natural ‘go to’ flavour, but I really enjoy the way that this gin has been put together as a package, and find myself pondering each sip. The mouthfeel is smooth, with a warming sting that I don’t mind at all.”

When I caught up with Gabriel, following his receipt of a winners medal in the aforementioned competition, I was keen to understand more about the name of their flagship liquid; “the name is derived from a local expression that is used as a joke, which evokes the idea of something flying away or fading out of sight. Coincidentally, the logo of a bar owned by one of the brand’s partners is a boozed-up bird, so we combined the expression with the illustration to create the Bye Bird brand.”

And beyond the name itself, there is very little disguising the gin’s heritage and origin – the bottle and art work literally drips with blue, green and gold Brazilian swagger;

“In the last year we updated our visual identity, which is the label that you see nowadays. Currently, we are expanding our presence within Brazil and actively seeking business partnerships across Europe and other continents”.

Whenever I discover a new gin, I am always keen to understand what it was that the team set out to achieve and the experience they wanted to impart on the drinker; it’s fair to say that a starting goal of making the drinking experience ‘fresh, vibrant, and distinctive’ has been achieved and then some. Gabriel explains that “one of our unique qualities is the remarkable freshness imparted by the limonete, which gives the gin a crisp, zesty character. We’ve crafted this as a contemporary gin with a focus on herbal ingredients, where every botanical used in our recipe is harvested just minutes before the process”. It’s this attention to detail and continuous pursuit of quality that ensures that each herb is at its peak freshness, offering a dynamic and aromatic flavor profile that evolves on the palate. Gabriel continues that “whether (Bye Bird) is enjoyed on its own or in a cocktail, we want the drinker to experience a refreshing, lively taste that feels both modern and natural”.

But let’s take a closer inspection of the gin itself. The botanicals are juniper berries, coriander seeds, orris root, lemongrass, rosemary, orange peel and limonete (Aloysia citriodora). And it’s this final ingredient that Gabriel points to as being responsible for the remarkable freshness of Bye Bird, bringing a touch of South America to the aromatics. 

Bye Bird Gin to drink 

The possibility to revisit Bye Bird, this time in a larger format, was too good to pass up. But would it live up to its original Exceptional’ outing? There was only one way to find out…

I really enjoy the aroma of this gin. It is reassuringly bold in the use of juniper, with a piney undertone throughout, yet bright and vibrant notes of citrus peel leap from the glass and are unmistakable as they grasp on to your nostrils. I think I’d attribute my original notes of ‘Parma Violets’ (during the blind tasting) to the expertly balanced notes of sweet citrus & savoury herbaceousness, creating a harmony on the nosing that is very enjoyable. 

There is an elevated sense of spicing on the taste, where the neat gin packs a punch that would have you checking the ABV to make sure you were reading it right; the 44% seems unfitting of the power and flavour volume that the gin is able to deliver. If I’m picking faults, there’s perhaps slightly more alcohol burn on the tongue than I’d care for, but I’d be nitpicking and it’s not significant enough to warrant too much concern. 

There’s a really nice richness to the textures of the gin when it washes across the pallet. You’re allowed to enjoy the oils of the juniper, with a luxurious and long lasting finish to the gin, where the flavour profile seems to evolve on the back of the throat.

The lemongrass and coriander seed combine to deliver a menthol heat to the neat spirit, while the orange peels and limonete deliver a bright citrus sweetness that feels as vivid on the palate as it does on the scent. That pungent juniper remains large and centre stage at all times, which helps to bring a sense of the classics to a gin recipe that also provides teaser notes to its South American origins.

This gin doesn’t shy away in to the shadows when faced with a mixer – which I absolutely love! The heat of the neat gin becomes tamed, whilst the bright citrus and ripe piney juniper retains all of the character you could hope for. The Brazilian qualities of the botanical lineup make this a perfect candidate for a summer sipper – if you can’t make it to the namesake bar that contributed to the brand imagery, then your patio & Ratan furniture during the impending British summer will work just fine.

Bye Bird Gin; It’s just like watching Brazil

When I chanced my arm to see if the team would share any insights on any future plans for growth and evolution, I turned out to be in luck! Gabriel shared with me that they plan to launch a Limonete flavoured vodka and also a non-alcoholic distillate based on the same ingredients as the gin; “we understand that there is a growing trend in the consumption of non-alcoholic drinks and despite the challenge of creating a non-alcoholic distillate, this is our plan”.

Perhaps most exciting of all are the teams plans to expand in to the ‘gin tourism’ sector, which I have long said is the key to longevity and moving towards becoming a ‘Love Brand’ that evokes a feeling from customers (rather than just being another bottle on the saturated backbar). Gabriel excitedly explains “we love getting up close and personal with our customers! That’s why we’re inviting everyone to come and visit our distillery and see our entire production process in action. Everyone can come to see where the magic happens, as our spirit is born right before their eyes! We’ll be organising some amazing events on our farm to make the experience even more special. There’ll be great music, beautiful rural scenery and, of course, the best drinks we can offer!”. Any one for a quick trip to Brazil with me?!

Raising a glass to Raymond

As I prepared to say Bye to another Bird within this same blog, I reflected on where this article first stated. And I’m not going to lie – it was a lot. But I do often wonder after her; is Cole still driving faster than the ‘little blonde girl’? Does Norman still reminisce on his days at Pirelli? Should I inform the authorities that little Raymond may have suffered a chocolate based poisoning, or would exhuming him for an autopsy at this stage be a slight on the viscous little gits memory? Who knows – but I’m guessing the next unwitting Arnold Clark customer could probably fill in the gaps for me. 

Anyway. I’m off for another sip of the good stuff, whilst I check out the flight options from Birmingham International to Rio.

Cheers. 

Contact us…

With huge thanks to Gabriel, and the team at Bye Bird, for my sample bottles of their (now award winning) Bye Bird Gin!

If you’d like to stay on top of what I am certain is going to be an exciting growth story, then this is where you need to go:

Instagram: @byebirdgim

Don’t forget to stop by @theginshelf across all social media platforms for more blogs & event updates.