We are very much a family business and we all love our gin – we even have a Golden Retriever – aptly named Spirit!

The Beginning

We started our gin journey back in 2018 when we visited a small Craft Distillery in Devon who were making small batch gin. We were impressed with the product and fascinated by the method of production. We decided to look into the viability of making our own gin and spent much of our time visiting exhibitions, attended training courses and touring a number of distilleries – Well, someone had to do it!

The Opportunity

The research continued apace until the beginning 2020 when Covid-19 effectively closed everything down and we took the opportunity over those long months in lockdown to develop our project and build our distillery.

The Name

We had already come to the conclusion that as well as some excellent local beers and soft drinks it would be nice if the local area could boast a true Somerset gin. We finally decided to name it Spirit of Glastonbury and registered the name as a trade mark.

The Botanicals

The botanicals used in the recipe include: Juniper; Coriander; Liquorice; Orris (Iris root); Cinnamon; Almonds; Angelica; Lemon and of course Somerset Apples.

The apples are sourced locally from Hecks Cider of Street (we use the pressings left over from the cider making process which we dry out), and the water comes from Glastonbury Springwater Company, who obtain their water from beneath the Tor. We try to source as much as possible from the UK, for example the juniper berries are produced by English farmers.

The Process

The process is clean, and does not produce any unpleasant odours or noise. The Still is open vented and is not under pressure. The used botanicals are environmentally friendly and can be safely disposed of, used as fertiliser or mixed with animal feed.
It tastes great when made into marmalade too!