Bertha was a very beautiful Droimeann cow from Sneem in Co. Kerry. She died in 1993 aged 48, the mother of 39 calves in those years. The spirit of Bertha now lives on at Ballyvolane House, in the form of Bertha’s Revenge Small Batch Irish Milk Gin.

Justin Green of Ballyvolane House in Fermoy, Co. Cork, worked with old school friend Antony Jackson to perfect the recipe for Bertha’s Revenge for several months, before its launch in December 2015. This special gin is made from whey, a by product of cheesemaking. Specially developed yeasts and sugar are added to the whey to convert the milk sugars to alcohol.

This produces a high quality pure whey spirit, which is then distilled with no less than 18 locally grown and foraged botanicals to infuse flavour, making this gin a truly local speciality from one of Ireland’s finest country houses. Ballyvolane is the first distillery in Ireland to produce small batch Irish milk gin from whey alcohol. Which is very fitting, since the word Ballyvolane translates as ‘place of the springing heifers’!

The beautiful label depicting Bertha the cow, which adorns every bottle of gin, was designed by Rod Springett. Ballyvolane House has always had a field to fork philosophy for its dining offering, now joined by the house’s ‘grass to glass’ ethos reflected in this fantastic gin.

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Thank you very much Good Food Ireland!