Sipsmith Distillery

Sam: Well, welcome to SipSmith Distillery here in Chiswick, West London, and while you can't tell, we're centered on a leafy residential street. Exactly the type of setting that the distilleries some 200 years ago that first started in London may have also been established in. And talking of 200 years, SipSmith is the first distillery in London for 200 years, born out of an ambition to make Gin the way Gin used to be made and the way it should be made.

And so here, we hope, in our short video, you'll learn a little bit about the culture of SipSmith and how we make our fabulous wares. Because behind you is a working laboratory, where our skilled craftsmen are dedicated to bring new brilliant spirits to life. To my right, we have three pot stills, Prudence, Patience, and Constance, that craft the brilliant wares that, behind me at the training area in the bar, we make the drinks with them. So without further ado, please let me introduce to you the one, the only, the myth, the man, the legend, our own Master Distiller, Jared Brown.

Jared: Let me introduce you to our stills. Here we have Prudence, named because when we started up, Gordon Brown was talking about economic prudence. Our version of prudence was selling apartments and working for no pay for a couple of years to be able to afford a top-notch Gin still. Next, Patience. Patience got her name because we could only afford the bottom half. For a couple of years, she had to be patient before she became the full still. Behind me, Constance, our largest at 1,500 liters, producing all of our London Dry today with perfect constance. This wall of copper behind me is the ideal place to make what I consider the world's finest Gin. We do this in a one-shot method, not making a Gin concentrate, not putting 20 to 25 mils into a bottle, but giving you a full bottle off the still, just cut to bottling strength.

But this is not where the real magic happens. The real magic happens in a tiny corner of the distillery in the lab. Here in the lab, we delve into the weird and wonderful of history. We go far beyond our 10 traditional botanicals, exploring the lost and the forgotten Gins in our own product development, as we like to call it. Cygnet, our 60-liter copper pot still, is our crucible for experimentation for Gins that might make it on the big still or just to the wall. The successes of this wall make it onto the wall of dreams in our bar.

Sam: Fantastic. Well, we're back at the bar and what an appropriate place to end. It's been great fun showing you around the SipSmith Distillery. We've introduced you to the lab where a lot of the wizardry happens, even the pot stills. I think you've even met some of the fabulous SipSmith family. But there's nothing we like more at the end of the day than have a cocktail.

Jared: It's the best part of making the world's finest Gin, isn't it, at the end of the day to raise a glass?

Sam: Certainly is and we really hope you'll come here in person to visit the SipSmith family, but thanks for watching.