INTRODUCING RHUBARB GIN. 

Written by: Mark Long
Date: 1st June 2026

Rhubarb Gin has been a long time coming at Cuckoo. In fact, we’ve been working on this recipe for over nine years, before we even launched our first bottle back in 2017. We’ve frozen it, juiced it, distilled it, macerated it and compounded it, trying just about every technique under the sun to extract authentic rhubarb flavour without relying on added sugars, syrups, or flavourings. You could say we’ve taken our sweet time, but building flavour from vegetables is far more challenging than working with oily citrus fruits, bright herbs, floral honey or tart berries.

Rhubarb was one of the defining flavours of the great gin boom of the 2010s, helping to fuel the category’s explosion in popularity. That momentum continued through the pandemic as at-home drinking occasions became more common and people searched for ways to recreate those moments we all enjoy sharing over a weekend. Yet despite its popularity, we never rushed to release our own version. We wanted to make a Rhubarb Gin that was unmistakably Cuckoo.

Over the years, demand at our distillery bar has only grown. As more visitors discovered our home, one question kept coming up: “Do you do a rhubarb?” We’ve often had to bite our tongues and point people towards Sunshine or Supernova instead, both offering the bright, vibrant character many were looking for. The challenge was creating a gin with the punchy rhubarb flavour people expect while staying true to our belief that flavour should never come at the expense of the gin itself.

The result is a recipe built like a mille-feuille, with layer upon layer of rhubarb flavour. In Maggie, our still, we boil fresh rhubarb and pass alcohol vapour through two separate baskets packed with rhubarb before adding a dedicated high-strength rhubarb distillate. To balance the fruit’s natural tartness, we’ve introduced a delicate distillation of fresh vanilla pods, bringing a creamy, custard-like finish reminiscent of the classic rhubarb-and-custard pairing. Bright floral pink peppercorns and an extra dose of coriander seed complete the recipe, creating a refreshing, thirst-quenching gin that keeps you coming back for another sip. We hope you enjoy drinking it as much as we’ve enjoyed perfecting it. After nine years, the time finally felt right to launch Rhubarb Gin this summer — a new string to our bow, an answer to the question we’ve been asked countless times at the bar, and something well worth taking your sweet time over.

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