FAQ

The scene takes place in London, under the reign of George II at the beginning of the 18th century, a period known as the Gin Craze, when one in three houses distilled and sold very dubious quality gin. In order to stop the excesses of this situation, a tax of 50 pounds (excessive in anyone’s eyes) was imposed by means of a legal notice regarding gin, which is known as the Gin Act 1736. After 6 years only two distilleries paid the tax.

We named our Gin, Fifty Pounds as a nod to nostalgia.

It is made by a small distillery in South West London which has been distilling gin for more than two centuries, and belongs to a family with an extremely long history of distilling. The master distiller is the president of the English distillers’ association. The company is called THAMES DISTILLERS.

To summarise, a grain spirit distilled four times is taken as the base, this means it is neutral, the botanicals are steeped in this alcohol for at least two days, after which time it will be distilled slowly in a hundred-year-old John Dore pot still (known as the Rolls Royce of stills). The master distiller subsequently throws away the ‘heads’ and ‘tails’ and saves just the ‘heart’ after this, the fundamental step of letting the liquid rest for at least three weeks takes place in order that the result combines together properly.

4+1: This means the grain spirit used has been distilled 4 times, to make it as neutral as possible, but Fifty Pounds Gin is ONLY distilled once, in order to conserve the essential oils of the distilled botanicals as well as possible, if we distilled the result again the alcohol produced would be neutralised, and it would be increasingly more difficult to recognise the botanicals.

Batch distillation is simply the distillation process with a start and finish, a batch or determined quantity is distilled (the liquid which ends up in the still), this is the traditional process as has always been used. At present the great majority of the distillates (gins, whiskies, rum, etc.) are distilled in mass continuous distillation column processes, this means an industrial process as opposed to the painstaking traditional process used to produce Fifty Pounds Gin.

If, for example, the batch number of a bottle of Fifty Pounds Gin is BATCH Nº 04/09, it means that this gin is from distillation 4 (approximately 1000 bottles per distillation or batch), and the distillation year is 09.

It is a term that the E.U. recognises as a method of producing gin which consists of distilling a neutral alcohol, whether from molasses or grain, with only natural botanicals, without subsequently adding flavourings or colourings. This means that the result is a colourless gin and is only produced from natural ingredients. There are gins that, due to their colour or due to the addition of flavourings, can only be called GIN. A London Dry Gin does not necessarily have to come from traditional batch distillation; in fact most London Dry Gins are not batch distilled.

8+3: the first eight are the classic ones: juniper, angelica root, coriander, liquorice root, grains of paradise, lemon and orange rind, and savory. And the 3 remaining botanicals form part of the Fifty Pounds Gin ‘secret’ recipe. It can be said that it has botanicals from 4 continents.

We honestly consider it to be the ideal alcohol content for drinking whether neat, with tonic or in a dry martini; a higher alcohol content could distort the combinations and a lower alcohol content does not provide them with character.

Significantly its SMOOTHNESS and BALANCE, within its classic cut. This means that the citric flavours do not stand out as in some gins, nor does the juniper as in other classic recipes, nor does it contain exotic or unidentifiable ingredients which distort or move away from the concept of gin. In short, it is the ideal gin for the ideal gin & tonic.