Marylebone Gin, 70 cl

Product Information

JN: It’s been a hell of a ride from early days when it was very hard to sell a premium gin to a bar and restaurant. He says, “We’ve tried to develop something balanced and delicate, where the botanicals work in harmony, but also a spirit with a certain robustness. But I’ve got a lease on a bigger premises on the Yattendon Estate at the moment and we’re planning to put a bigger pot still in place so we can really start developing the brand and the range.

There are cherry blossoms, and orange blossoms, but certainly one problem I had was that Regent’s Park wouldn’t let me forage at all, as it’s part of the Crown Estate, so I’ve got the gardens to wander about – Paddington Square and Montague Gardens. Nose: Floral citrus blossom and aromatic chamomile, with underlying (somewhat festive) hints of clove and orange. It may slow down and might become more difficult in the on-trade over the next 18 months for operators to have such a large range of gin, but we’ll see how we go.True to its name, the quirky establishment is foliage-filled and sits nestled (pun intended) atop the Treehouse hotel.

We started working with Turkish quince as a flavour profile, we thought it gave a nice stone fruity flavour and it fitted really nicely with the family history. I’ve been trying to keep it quiet until I got the still in place, which is why we can now talk about it! Named after Isabella Greenall, the starting point of the Neill adventures in gin, and Johnny’s own daughter, recently she’s found a new home: 108 Bar at the Marylebone Hotel, right in centre of the world’s greatest metropolis. Marylebone might fly under the radar as one of London’s drinking spots, but it boasts a wealth of cool bars if you know where to look. Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, perhaps the most famous in the country, persisted until the mid-19th century.We’ve got stills that are capable of distilling some quality rum so we’ll do some experiments and see what we get. We have previously mentioned that gin was known as ‘mother’s ruin’ in the past, before ‘cleaning up’ its image to suit the trendy modern palette: similarly, the pleasure gardens of London back in the 18 th and 19 th centuries did not enjoy a reputation of being for the clean-living. Legend has it that the bark of the fever tree was first used by the Spanish in the early 1630s where the healing properties of the tree were discovered.

In the London of Jane Austen and John Keats, marvellous pleasure gardens were the place to see and be seen for every strata of society. The bar has made a name for itself thanks to its multi-sensory creations where the skilled mixologists use aromas, fogs, airs, and foams to bring their unique concoctions to life. Thomas Greenall founded Greenalls in 1762, when London’s Marylebone Pleasure Gardens were the place to be seen. The folk behind Seymour’s Parlour describe it as feeling more like the private lounge of a monied ancestor and they’re right. One of the most famous pleasure gardens stood down the side of the Rose of Normandy tavern on Marylebone High Street.The home of gin and many liqueurs, England is increasingly producing craft vodka, rum and non-alcoholic spirits. It got me thinking about the floral botanicals that would have been sitting in those gardens at the time and from there I developed the story, the recipe and the brand because that’s what I enjoy doing. Then I went to South Africa with my wife, who is South African, and started looking for some different fruits, roots and shoots to distil. Any way you enjoy it, the spirit you’re sipping is truly spectacular – and would fit right in at the magical pleasure gardens of old.