Paradiso Collins

A Paradiso Collins is an almost ready-to-drink cocktail (just add soda water) from the Silver Circle Distillery in South Wales.

I recently reviewed Clear Spirits’ Black Garlic Vodka, an unusual spirit to say the least. A look at their website shows they’re doing some weird and wonderful things down there, halfway between Chepstow and Monmouth, like a Damson Negroni and a gin using local honey.

What Is a Paradiso Collins?

A Paradiso Collins is the distillery’s take on a typical Collins drink, which usually contains gin, lemon juice, sugar and soda water or some other carbonated water.

The Paradiso Collins instead combines the distillery’s signature Wye Valley Gin with some Aperol, pineapple juice and something called rooibos tea, which I had to look up. It’s a herbal tea that originates in South Africa and is also sometimes called red tea or bush tea. Aperol is, of course, a distinctively orange-coloured Italian aperitif, which people tend to either love or hate.

Tasting Paradiso Collins

Silver Circle’s Paradiso Collins is 16% ABV (32 proof) and comes in 50cl bottles, enough to make at least six drinks when you mix it with soda water. Before mixing, it’s a dark orange colour but with soda water added it becomes more tangerine, or light orange.

I had a small tasting sample so dished it up between myself and my wife, with a small bottle of Fever Tree Soda Water. It was a very interesting cocktail. It still had the slight sourness that you expect from a Collins, but the pineapple gave it a contrasting sweetness – and presumably the Paradiso name. The gin element seemed quite light, but that’s probably because I guessed at the ratio and this was easily remedied: add a bit more gin!

The Paradiso Collins made an excellent and very different and classy cocktail. The home bartender’s really being spoiled right now as you can produce an amazing array of ready-made cocktails, which will impress your guests (depending how honest you are), or even just spice up your own cocktail habits.

Buying Paradiso Collins

The 50cl bottle costs £28 when bought from the Silver Circle website. That works out at less than £5 a time to enjoy a very original cocktail at home. Full marks to Silver Circle, and next time I’m in South Wales I’ll definitely pay them a visit and find out what they’re up to.