Why we distil from scratch

Most gin producers buy neutral grain spirit by the tanker, redistil it with botanicals, and bottle it. There is nothing wrong with that. It is how a great deal of very good gin gets made.

We do it the long way instead. We start with a grain or fruit base, ferment it ourselves, and distil it into vodka or brandy before we go anywhere near a juniper berry.

What that changes

Flavour gets built in layers. A brandy base carries fruit and weight that a neutral spirit does not, which is why our French Floral and Native gins start there and the Classic London Dry does not.

By the time the botanicals go in, the spirit already has a character. The botanicals shape it rather than supply all of it.

What it costs

Time, mostly. Fermenting and double-distilling before the gin run turns a one-day job into a multi-day one, and it is the reason we work in small batches. We would rather do that than skip the part that makes the difference.