a festival in a beautiful location, away from the hustle, cocooned the gentle air of a West Wales spring, caressed by the breeze from the coast. Imagine wellbeing for body, mind and soul – yoga in every form, thought-provoking talks, life-affirming workshops coupled with music, amazing food, and of course, gin. In the Welsh Wind was at Big Retreat Wales 2019 to shoot the breeze and serve up our latest tipple, a co-production with the festival itself, The Cleddau Gin.

Having worked with Diana and Amber to develop The Cleddau Gin, capturing the essence of Big Retreat Wales in a bespoke spirit, it made perfect sense for us to pack up Will’s camper van and head to Lawrenney, Pembrokeshire on the banks of the River Cleddau. We had an awesome time – catching up with old friends, making new ones. We got such a buzz from serving up superlative G&Ts that we’ve created some Cleddau cocktails, developed by our in-house mixologist Luke Hanson – keep reading to find one of our exclusive cocktail recipes inspired by The Cleddau Gin and the Big Retreat Wales gin bar for you to knock up a knockout glass to savour on your own, or with friends!

Of course, such an epic weekend meant an opportunity to capture some images to remind us of all the brilliant moments we shared. Cheers. And here’s to next year!

From the In the Welsh Wind Cocktail archives


Cleddau Mule

Don’t be fooled by the moniker – the Moscow Mule actually came from America; and whether it was developed by a well-known vodka brand’s executive to sell vodka to the Americans, or as an enterprising bar tender’s creative solution to an excess of ginger beer, it’s been a staple of the cocktail menu since the 1940’s.

At its heart is a straightforward blend of top quality alcohol, ginger beer and a final citrus flourish. In our Big Retreat Wales version, the Cleddau Mule substitutes our bespoke The Cleddau Gin for the traditional vodka and introduces additional sweetness in the form of freshly steeped pineapple syrup, to offset the lime and ginger.

Serves 1
What you’ll need:

  • 50ml The Cleddau Gin
  • 15ml Pineapple Syrup*
  • 15ml Lime Juice
    (we use Funkin Pro but you could squeeze your own if you’re not catering for a crowd)
  • 150ml Ginger Beer
  • 2 Dashes Angostura Bitters
  • Build The Cleddau Gin, pineapple syrup, lime juice and ginger beer over ice and stir. Add Angostura Bitters with a final flourish and serve.

*Making your own pineapple syrup couldn’t be easier. Chunk up 500g fresh pineapple, add to a non-metallic bowl with 500g caster sugar and leave to macerate overnight. Next morning, tip the contents of the bowl into a saucepan, pour in 200ml water and heat to 70 degrees C. Hold the mixture at 70 degrees for a couple of minutes before removing from the heat and allowing to cool slightly before filtering and funnelling into sterilised bottles.

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