Picture the scene. I’m stood in the entrance hall of one of Scotland’s foremost country houses on a bracing October night. My dress for the evening is Edwardian attire, complete with monocle and cravat. In front of me is a bath full of a mysterious-looking substance, and pieces of cucumber. There are two taps marked ‘g’ and ‘t’. Perusal of these taps indicates that the ‘g’ tap will pour Hendrick’s gin, and that the ‘t’ tap will dispense a goodly measure of tonic, resulting in a delectable gin and tonic. The cucumber in the bath therefore comes as an essential addition.
All the time, a jovial fellow in side-whiskers and evening gown – ‘Sir Hendricks’, if you please – addresses the assembled guests in cheery tones as to the healing properties of the drink. Nobody’s disagreeing with him. The evening will go on to incorporate games of billiards, displays of cannon fire and some splendidly offbeat food, as well as cameo appearances by aged retainers, Boer veterans and Sir Hendricks’ fiery Spanish wife. Suffice it to say that Tuesdays will never quite be the same again.
Welcome to the delightfully eccentric world of Hendrick’s gin. As anyone who likes a gin and tonic knows, it’s established itself at the peak of the international market in a comparatively small time, not only for its closely guarded secret recipe (that differs from conventional London dry gins due to its addition of rose petal and cucumber extracts), but also because of what it calls its rather unusual ethos. This ranges from ‘the company car’ – a cucumber-green 60s roadster, complete with well-stocked bar in the boot – to the travelling carriage that will trade punters a finely crafted g and t in exchange for a story or addition to the range of curious artefacts that the company boasts.
What’s so compelling about Hendrick’s is the unique way in which it’s manufactured. It’s distilled in a tiny village in Scotland called Girvan, about an hour and a half from Glasgow, using a marriage of spirits from two different kinds of ‘still’, resulting in a delightfully fresh and floral taste, combining botanicals including coriander, lemon peel, Orris root and elderflower, amongst many others. To maintain the quality of the product, the master distiller Lesley Gracie crafts batches of a mere 450 litres at a time, resulting in a comparatively small annual production of 250,000 cases, which are shipped worldwide.
During the couple of days that I spent in Scotland observing the Hendrick’s way of life, numerous things became clear. Firstly, just about everyone who works with the gin is quite mad, in the nicest possible way. There were times when I felt like Alice at the Mad Hatter’s tea party – quite literally during a visit to one of the country’s finest golf hotels, Tunberry, for a much-needed afternoon tea. And secondly, if you get the chance to visit the distillery and learn from the ever-knowledgeable staff, including the ineffably charming Xavier Padovani, take it with both hands. You’ll be in for a wonderfully unexpected experience.
For more information, visit www.hendricksgin.com.
