Dryad Gin Ltd 2 Globe Cottages, Merridge Bridgwater TA5 1BA, UK
Dryad Gin passionate about fostering life
Dryad Gin passionate about fostering life
Unique, small-batch Somerset gin made with majestic oak trees and distilled in traditional copper stills from the foothills of the Quantocks.
Dryad Gin is evocative of sun-drenched afternoons in the company of firm friends, infused with fragrant notes of cardamom, cinnamon, orange peel and almond for a deliciously quaffable tipple rooted in natural mythology.
The ideal accompaniment to garden parties and get-togethers punctuated by the love and laughter of like-minds, Dryad Gin is a bottle to be shared and savoured as you create memories to last a lifetime.
Dryad Gin 70cl
£45.00
Dryad Gin passionate about fostering life
Description
Dryad Gin 70cl 40% ABV
Our signature London Dry Gin captures the sublime beauty of the Quantocks, from the wild, heather-soaked heathlands to the patchwork-like pastures where the gorse flowers bloom, making it the perfect gift for an authentic taste of Somerset. Each bottle is a numbered as a limited first batch of 600 have been created.
Inspired by the ethereal spirits who guard the ancient woodlands, Dryad Gin is finished with subtle hints of cardamom, cinnamon, orange peel and almond for a rich, earthy edge. Serve with a glug of tonic and garnish with seasonal berries for a refreshing springtime sip or pair with a ginger beer for a warming cocktail to alight the senses
Bottle weighs 1227g 43.3oz
Dryad Gin 70cl in Oak Box
£99.95
Dryad Gin passionate about fostering life
Description
Oak Leaf Box with 70cl bottle of Dryad Gin
Beautifully hand crafted limited edition Oak Box with oak leaf, which contains a 70cl bottle of Dryad Gin. As these are handmade from recycled oak, no two boxes are alike. Each gift box is unique. Chris applies a natural oil food safe finish, which protects the boxes from everyday use. Chris recommends they are kept out of direct sunlight to preserve their natural beauty.
24cms long
Length 23.8 cms
Width 12.6 cms
Depth 12.6 cms
The oak leaf varies 11 cms long
Weight varies with bottle
4lb 12 or 2175g
Team Dryad …
Meet the amazing people that have helped build the dream!
Introducing Team Dryad …
Alex AKA Dryad Security
Alex AKA Security and occasionally a Dinosaur.
Alex is sits at the heart of Team Dryad. What would I do without him? He defiantly deserves some entrance music. He is my partner and without him there would be no Dryad Gin.
Dryad Gin passionate about fostering life
Sarah AKA Snacks
Dryad Gin passionate about fostering life
Here is Sarah AKA Snacks and wow she can create the perfect snack box for any occasion..
Sarah joined us just over a year ago and has been so brilliant. You will mainly find her making cocktails but she is also in charge of behind bar dance routines. Her energy and enthusiasm as brought so much to Team Dryad we are very grateful to have her.
Jon AKA Jon The Bard
Here is Jon The Bard. Jon has written The Dryad Gin Song you can listen the song below!
Jon is also a keen lover of Dryad Gin. He has been with us since the start and helps at all our Pop Up Pubs and I consider him one of our chief tasters a very important job and my very good friend.
Dryad Gin passionate about fostering life
Trish AKA Art Carbuncle
Dryad Gin passionate about fostering life
Without Trish so much of the Dryad Story would not exist, she is an Art Historian and curated our Centaur Chiron.
She gave her voice to our films and has attended nearly every Pop Up Pub. She has also consumed many Dryad Cocktails for quality checks. Trish has also brought art to life with her brilliant talks entitled, ” The Art of Drinking.” these are held at Broomfield Village Hall. Trish is loved by Team Dryad so much and she brings so much to all of our events. She is such a brilliant friend too.
Leyla AKA Capeater
Here is Leyla, by this time when interviewing, Leyla and I had consumed a large quantity of cocktails. In our defence they were very beautiful drinks.
Leyla is a very good friend and has supported Dryad Gin right from the start. She is wearing one of our Dryad headdresses and is a lover of Dryad Gin. She is a lover of Dryad gin too
Dryad Gin passionate about fostering life
Dryad Gin Awards
Awards
We would like to share with you some of the awards Dryad Gin has achieved since we launched it just two years ago…
The Spirits Selection by Concours Mondial de Bruxelles – Gold Medal
We have been awarded a prestigious gold medal in our first year of operation, gaining global recognition Out of 22,383 spirits from 57 countries, only 23 gins received a gold medal, and Dryad Gin is the only gin selected from the UK.
This phenomenal achievement was made possible through participation in The Spirits Selection by Concours Mondial de Bruxelles, the leading international event honouring spirit drinks worldwide. An independent panel of renowned experts from across the globe meticulously evaluated the entries and bestowed medals upon the best. What makes this competition unique is that the judges never see the bottles, ensuring anonymity and fairness throughout the process..
Taste of the West – Gold 2023 and 2024
For the past two years we have won gold in the Wines, Spirits and Liqueurs section with Taste of the West. This is the UK’s largest independent regional food group who promote and support local food and drink from the South West of England. The highest score is a gold award.
The Gin Guide Awards – Highly Commended
This is the world’s largest independent Gin Awards and leads the industry with the most rigorous judging process, the most extensive feedback, and with categories that are the most relevant and in touch industry trends. Widely recognised and highly respected by the trade and consumers across the world, The Gin Guide Awards celebrate and give global recognition to the exceptional products, distilleries and people within the gin industry.
HIGHLY COMMENDED: These are the gins that achieved a score within a small margin of the threshold to be a Winner and are deserving of a special mention.
Great Taste Award – One Star
The Quantock Hills Dryad Gin was one of 5,904 products to receive a Great Taste award in 2023 (which is only 41.6% of the total products entered). Recognised as a stamp of excellence and actively sought out by food lovers and retailers alike, Great Taste, organised by the Guild of Fine Food, values taste above all else. All products in the line-up for judging are blind tasted: every product is removed from its packaging so it cannot be identified, before entering a robust, layered judging process.
In 2023 judging took place over 89 days in Dorset and London, with a panel of more than 500 judges putting the products to the test. The line-up saw food and drink products submitted from an extraordinary 109 different countries across the world 14,195 products were put through the competition’s rigorous blind judging process and 4,088 products were awarded a Great Taste 1-star – ‘food and drink that delivers fantastic flavour’.
THE MYTHOLOGY OF DRYAD GIN
The tale of Dry, Chiron & the bountiful blackbird.
Our story begins at the foothills of the Quantocks where peach-pink sunsets make soft silhouettes of the ancient oak trees. Powered by the desire to celebrate Somerset and the spirited people who call this land home, we began distilling Dryad Gin.
Our origins, however, are rooted in ancient history.
Drenched in mythology and a spiritual connection with nature, the gin takes its name from the ethereal nymph spirits that gave their lives to protect the majestic oak trees that have fed our land for centuries.
As guardian of the woodlands and the groves beyond, our dryad, affectionately known as Dry, would use her disarming charm and resourceful nature to shield the trees from harm. Dry spent many an evening dancing between the trees, bathed in warm dappled light, duty-bound to protect their potent powers.
Dryad Gin passionate about fostering life
She wasn’t the only guardian of the glades, however…
A most beguiling character – half-man, half-horse – also called them home. Whilst most centaurs were wildly mischievous, Chiron was a wise sage and renowned polymath who would while away the hours experimenting with everything from prophecy to archery, botany to pharmacy.
Bound by their wild hearts, Dry and Chiron would glide through the glades sharing the secrets of Somerset and swapping stories about the local flora and fauna ‘til no stone was left unturned. Chiron would call upon this expertise to brew fantastical elixirs from botanicals foraged from the rolling hedgerows, hoping to create a drink that recalled the wonders of the woodland with each sip.
One spring evening, Chiron was attempting to figure out a fusion that best captured those fabled days, pouring thimblefuls of this and thumbing handfuls of that to no avail. He stood bemused, marvelling at the fields painted gold in the half-light. Unbeknownst to him, a blackbird nestled in a nearby tree had been watching his every move.
The blackbird, destined to traverse the same territory year in, year out, knew exactly what Chiron needed to perfect his potion and was sitting with a peck of it hidden in its beak for safekeeping. As time went by and Chiron’s bemusement grew, the blackbird swept across the sky and dropped the secret ingredient into the potion before Chiron’s very eyes. The brew came to life in an instant, the bottle blooming with faded memories of balmy evenings spent roaming the rolling hills.
Chiron greedily supped from the bottle. Each sip sang of the guiding light of home – of chosen kinfolk, of tables laden with treats and of rooms aflame with love and laughter.
The blackbird’s beakful had worked. Dryad Gin was born.
The tale of Dry, Chiron and the bountiful blackbird spread far and wide, passing from woodland to woodland, generation to generation, taking on a life of its own. And it’s yours to share too!
It’s now custom to pour a ‘blackbird’s beakful’ of Dryad Gin over your shoulder and back into the earth to honour this creative collaboration and our co-existence with nature.
Wherever you may wander, we hope our gin inspires you to protect and celebrate the land and loved ones that you call home.
Dryad Gin passionate about fostering life
Our Inspiration
This gin is dedicated to the memory of Becky and Liz’s mum, Sheila Wright.
Sheila (She’ll to those who knew her well), was one heck of an extraordinary lady. I know we may be considered biased being her family but I’m sure everyone that has had the pleasure of knowing, or partying with her, will agree humans like her don’t come along all too often.
Beaming with warmth and a friendly smile she was the most welcoming of souls; full of life.
She’ll dedicated many years of her life to hospitality, owning and running The Packhorse B&B in Allerford, where she made a thriving home for her family and many happy years for many of her returning guests.
She’ll raised two daughters (Liz & Becky) and a granddaughter (Phoebe) but had many who referred to her as a second mum/grandma as she often extended her heart and home to anyone and everyone in need.
She’ll was an immensely strong and inspiring individual and apart from living many love and laugher packed years, she’d also regularly share many a story; Living through WW2 in Bath as a child, regularly dancing the night away in Bath’s famous Pump Room ballroom, taking the occasional skinny dip in the traditional baths and so, so much more. She’ll stayed determined to enjoy life to its fullest to the bitter end, she managed to live to hold her long awaited first great grandchild Elizabeth Rose.
She loved her gin, often dedicating various times of day to Gin O’clock and so enjoyed any experience which involved drinking and having fun with others, especially her friends at The Kildare Lodge in Minehead.
It goes without saying She’ll will be greatly missed by all for many, many years to come! Rest assured a piece of She’ll shall live on in each of her nearest and dearest every time you make a toast with gin or a kind gesture is made.
We know She’ll will be having one heck of a knees up behind those pearly gates and she would have loved the gin launch and The Dryad Inn. Bringing people together was something she held dear.
Sheila Wright DOB: 15/03/1933 – 01/03/21
The Team
We have had a lot of support from some amazingly talented people in creating the branding and the whole ambience that we wanted around Dryad Gin.
This has all been done with love and we are most grateful to them.
This is a thank you, from us to them…
Gemma Trickey
Gemma Trickey is a printmaker living and working in the Mendip Hills of Somerset.
I wanted to tell a story of the Somerset landscape in the making of the linocut for Dryad Gin, and to weave in the mythologies and characters that inhabit the land. A sense of place is a thread that is drawn throughout my work, and looking out from my studio across the Somerset levels out to the Quantock Hills, I wanted to tap into the relationship of the two; a sense of collaboration and cooperation between story and place.
Gemma Trickey
Chris Loxley
Chris Loxley uses woodworking to escape from the stresses of life.
“I find beauty in working with living, breathing material. Wood still moves and breathes after it has been fashioned.
My passion is to reuse waste wood in my solar powered workshop. I create unique, handmade wooden objects, with environmentally friendly finishes to protect the wood and give each object a beautiful, durable finish.
I was delighted when Becky asked me to make gift boxes for Dryad Gin, as I had the perfect material; aged oak flooring. I picked an oak leaf from a Somerset tree as a template and let my saw guide me to create an individual leaf for each box”.
Chris Loxley
Emil Goretzki
Quantock Turning
“When Becky asked me to design and make a Gin bar that would fold in and out of a van, Quantock Turning couldn’t wait to get started. I used a pallet wood veneer, cut down with a bandsaw for a rustic front facing. For the shelves we found a spalted beech log that we then resized and set about making the deckchair style shelves. Spalting is when a log is at the first stages of decay and clusters of fungi pattern the wood, creating a map effect, which is a great example of Fibonacci’s sequence.
“We had to make the unit easily collapsible so we used French cleats for all of the joinery and metal latches to secure them. During the build process we had many visitors on the industrial estate, perplexed as to why I was building a bar in the middle of it. Thank you again for letting us be a part of your journey into making Dryad. We can’t wait to see what you do next.”
Emil Goretzki
Bee Higgins
Bee Higgins is a copywriter and content writer often found padding around the fields with her beloved dog or curled up on the sofa with her head in a book.
“This has been a passion project, from start to finish. I’ve relished the opportunity to showcase the beauty of this county we call home. From dreaming up the mythological world that sits within the soul of Somerset to spinning the perfect yarn for our cast of curious creatures, I’ve been reminded of the writerly power that sits at my fingertips. Dryad Gin truly is a celebration of love, levity and libations.”
Bee Higgins
Trish Jones
Poet and Art Historian
“I have been looking at pictures most of my life, and hoping that others will see something extraordinary when we explore art history together.
Becky’s adventure in gin distilling, marketing and now distributing has been a sensational project. I like to think that our collaboration( aided always by a drop of the ‘product’) has been fruitful. Ideas have been shared, words exchanged, history and mythology plundered to inspire and enhance what is a unique and wonderful artisan beverage.
Dryad Gin is here. The adventure is just beginning.”
Trish Jones
Barnaby Adams
Barnaby Adams is an ideas-centred graphic designer, based in Somerset
“I loved developing the packaging concept and graphics for Dryad Gin. We wanted the bottle to become the tree, inside of which the tree spirits would reside. So the outer label was designed to look like oak bark and (somewhat unconventionally) we utilised the natural gap in the label as a focal point, a doorway through which to peer in and see the dryad and centaur that are printed on the inside.
This wood-cut image is full of detail and interest, but it’s deliberately held just out of reach, largely hidden from sight and provides only occasional glances (just as one would expect from elementals). I love how the warp of the glass and fluid nature of the gin bends and distorts the image, adding to that sense of mythology and an ethereal quality we wanted to capture.”
Barnaby Adams
Aisling Magill
Photographer
“ It’s been a dream to work on a project as wonderful as Dryad Gin from its inception. Seeing all the component parts come together to make this wonderful and award-winning product right here in Somerset is something very special. I have loved taking the product photographs especially those out in the wilds where it feels most at home.”
Aishling Magill
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