Explorers Grand Slam Quality Gin
Explorers Grand Slam Gin, the Inspirational Spirit, is inspired by Sir David Hempleman-Adams, who completed the first Explorers Grand Slam by walking to the geographical and magnetic North and South Poles and climbing the highest summit on all seven continents.
Explorers Grand Slam Quality Gin
The Adventurers Drinks Co.
The home to amazing drinks inspired by modern day adventurers with authentic stories of adventure and exploration. The perfect gifts for those with an adventurous spirit.
About
After many years managing heavy engineering businesses, I took up rowing thanks to a chance conversation over a garden fence, with Ian Boyd of Tyne Rowing Club. Since then I have taken part in coastal, river and ocean rowing.
In 2018 I led a team row 3,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge (Worlds Toughest Row), crossing in a Guinness world record time of 42 days for a mixed four. In 2023 I completed a second crossing of the Atlantic in support of the charity Veterans at Ease.
It was whilst tackling a shortfall in funding for an arctic expedition that I recognised the long historical connection between adventuring and all types of drinks. I helped Jack Hopkins develop and marketing a themed gin as a way of raising funds and saw at first-hand how well customers responded to the gin’s back story and the excitement surrounding the team’s expedition. It was clear that the adventure itself became a key part of the gin’s USP and roll out success.
This led me to develop my own business, the Adventurers Drinks Company, marketing drinks associated with modern day adventurers and explorers, the home to amazing drinks with authentic stories of adventure and exploration. The perfect gifts for those with an adventurous spirit.
Phil Kite, Adventurer and Regular Bloke. 22nd May 2022
Explorers Grand Slam Gin
Inspired by Sir David Hempleman-Adams the first to complete the Explorers Grand Slam by walking to both the North and South Poles and climbing the highest summit on all seven continents.
PriceRegular price€4995
Explorers Grand Slam Gin, the Inspirational Spirit, is inspired by Sir David Hempleman-Adams, who completed the first Explorers Grand Slam by walking to the geographical and magnetic North and South Poles and climbing the highest summit on all seven continents.
The idea of fellow adventurer Phil Kite, founder of the Adventurers Drinks Company, it embraces its inspirational back story with its unique flavour coming from the botanicals found in each of the seven continents including
Juniper, Coriander, Thyme and Orris from Europe,
Angelica from North America,
Liquorice from Africa,
Cassia Bark Cardamon and Bay Leaf and from Asia,
Batak Pepper from Australasia,
Lemon and Orange from South America,
Sea Salt from the Antarctic.
Crafted on the classical foundations of Juniper and Coriander its unique flavour come from Thyme that adds a subtle, earthy, and minty taste to gin, with a slight sweetness.
Orris which acts as a base flavour note that binds and stabilises the flavours of the other botanicals in the gin, whilst also providing a floral aroma and a sweet, woody taste that is similar to liquorice.
Angelica with slightly bitter and herbal tones, that helps flavour and aroma compounds from other botanicals bind with the alcohol leading to a more flavourful gin.
Liquorice which adds a subtly sweet, earthy, and spiced taste.
Cassia Bark which complements the Liquorice adding a light warm and delicate spice to the gin.
Cardamon, a fragrant spice with a fresh, citrusy aroma and a sweet spicy flavour.
Bay leaf, often likened to oregano and thyme, with its slightly medicinal, aromatic flavour, that works well with warming spices.
Batak Pepper that with its warm and savoury pepperiness releases powerful citrus notes reminiscent of pink grapefruit and crushed mandarin leaves.
Lemon and Orange that adds an additional zest.
Sea Salt that helps balance the botanicals giving it a soft, slightly sweet maritime flavour.
Together they produce a fragrant, aromatic, and slightly peppery spicy gin with citrus notes, a truly Inspirational Spirit, encapsulating its adventurous origins.
The inspirational spirit
Sir David Hempleman-Adams
The Inspiration
Sir David Hempleman-Adams is a British mountaineer and balloonist who has achieved numerous records in the field of aviation and exploration. His interest in adventure started at school, aged 13, when he took part in the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme. On being taken to the Black mountains in South Wales and seeing the mist and amazing views he loved every minute and the rest, as they say, is history.
Explorers Grand Slam Gin is inspired by David, the first person to walk to the geographical and magnetic North and South Pole and climb the highest summit on all seven continents.
David Started on his Explorers Grand Slam journey by climbing Denali, Alaska, USA at the age of 24. He then went on to climb Kilimanjaro, Tanzania (Africa), Everest, Nepal, (Asia), Elbrus, Russia, (Europe), Vinson, (Antarctica), Aconcagua, Argentina (South America) and Puncak Jaya, Indonesia (Australasia).
Exploring the remote and extreme environment of the arctic has long been a fascination for David, influenced by Scott and Shackleton, and evidenced by his thirty plus arctic expeditions and reaching the Poles a record fourteen times. As part of his Explorers Grand Slam, he walked to both poles. Magnetic North Pole in 1984, Geomagnetic North Pole in 1992, Magnetic South Pole in 1996 and Geographic North Pole 1998.
David’s adventurers started on land, with a focus on climbing and exploring the arctic, but the sky and oceans have featured in many of his challenges. He is an accomplished Balloonist, with multiple world firsts including being the first person to fly to the North Pole in a balloon and make a balloon crossing of the Atlantic in an open basket. When it comes to sailing, he skippered the first British yacht to sail around the Arctic Ocean in one summer season.
In 1992 David co-founded The Youth Adventure Trust, a registered youth development charity working with vulnerable young people who are suffering the effects of poverty and rural isolation. In 2009 David founded Wicked Weather Watch, a charity aimed at informing young people about climate change, to inspire and turn eco-anxiety into empowerment. David worked with St John Ambulance for over 25 year, retiring as trustee in 2021. He was also a trustee of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award for 10 years and a trustee of The Royal Aero Club Trust.
Explorers Grand Slam Gin, the Inspirational Spirit, is inspired by – Sir David Hempleman-Adams, who completed the first Explorers Grand Slam by walking to the geographical and magnetic North and South Pole and climbing the highest summit
on all seven continents.
Adventures to Date
Sir David Hempleman-Adams completed the Explorers Grand Slam between 1980 and 1998 in the following order.
1980 – Denali, Alaska, USA, North America – 1981 – Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, Africa -1984 – Magnetic North Pole – 1993 – Everest, Nepal, Asia – 1994 – Elbrus, Russia, Europe – 1994 – Vinson – Antarctica – 1995 – Aconcagua, Argentina, South America – 1995 – Puncak Jaya, Indonesia, Australasia – 1996 – Magnetic and Geomagnetic South Pole – 1998 – Geomagnetic North Pole.
In addition he has completed so many other adventures it is hard to list them all so below are just a few!
1984 – Successfully completed a solo expedition to the Magnetic North Pole without dogs, snow mobiles or air supplies.
1992 – Led the first team to walk unsupported to the Geomagnetic North Pole. This was described in the book A Race Against Time.
1996 – Completed a solo unsupported expedition to the South Pole, sailed to the South Magnetic Pole and led a team of novices to ski to the Magnetic North Pole. The book Toughing it Out describes David’s first 20 years of adventuring.
1998 – Completed the Explorers Grand Slam having walked to the geographical and magnetic North and South Pole and climbed the highest summit on all seven continents.
2000 – Became the first man to fly a balloon over the North Pole, a trip that emulated the ill-fated attempt by Salomon August Andrée, a Swede, to fly to the North Pole in the 19th century and which he also described in a book called At The Mercy of the Wind.
2003 – Became the first person to cross the Atlantic Ocean in an
open wicker basket Rozière balloon. The journey was from New
Brunswick, Canada to north of Blackpool, UK.
2004 – he and co-pilot Lorne White flew a single engine Cessna from Cape Columbia in the north of Canada to Cape Horn at the southern tip of South America, covering 11,060 miles and arriving on 23 July after 12 days.
2005 -Staged the world’s “highest” formal dinner party. Hempleman-Adams, Alan Veal, and fellow adventurer Bear Grylls ascended to 24,262 feet in a hot air balloon. Grylls and Veal, wearing formal attire, then climbed down to a dinner table suspended 40 feet below the balloon and dined on asparagus, salmon, and summer fruits, and finally parachuted down to earth.
2007 – Broke the quarter-century old world small sized hot air
balloon altitude record, by ascending to 9,906 meters over Alberta, Canada; beating the previous record of 9,537 metres set by Carol Davis in New Mexico.
2007 – Crossed the Atlantic in the smallest helium balloon to break the record for that particular class of balloon flying this distance. His aim was to land the balloon in Ireland but he was blown over to England by strong winds.
2009 – Broke the endurance record for a flight using the smallest man-carrying helium balloon. He flew 200 miles from Butler, Missouri, to Cherokee, Oklahoma, in 14 hours and 15 minutes using the class AA-01 balloon. The previous record was an eight hours and 12 minutes flight undertaken by American Coy Foster in March 1983.
2008 – Along with co-pilot Jon Mason won the 52nd Gordon Bennett Cup, having flown a helium balloon from Albuquerque, New Mexico eventually landing over 1000 miles later near Madison, Wisconsin. They are the first British team to win the coveted prize in 102 years.
2011 – Led the Iceland Everest Expedition on the North Side of Everest. £1.2 Million was raised for their chosen charity.
2011- Along with co-pilot Jon Mason, David won the Americas
Challenge Balloon race and in doing so set a new duration record for the race. They are the only British team to win both the Gordon Bennett Balloon Race and Americas Challenge.
2016 – Skippered the first British yacht to sail around the Arctic
Ocean in one summer season, anticlockwise.
2019 – Sailed from London to New York in aid of St John ambulance.
Future Adventures
2025 – David is attempting to cross the Atlantic Ocean in an open basket hydrogen balloon in the Torabhaig Atlantic Explorer balloon with two long-time friends, American balloon manufacturer Bert Padelt, 62, and 72-year-old Swiss scientist and entrepreneur Dr Frederik Paulsen.
Awards
David has received the following awards and honours.
1995 – MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours
1998 – OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to Arctic Exploration.
2000 – The Gold Medal of the Royal Aero Club.
2004 – The Explorers Medal by The Explorers Club at their Centennial Dinner.
2007 – Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order (LVO) in the New Year Honours[17] in recognition of his service to the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme.
2008 – Freeman of the City of London .
2013 – Polar Medal and bar by Queen Elizabeth II for services to the UK in the field of polar research.
2016 – Knight of Justice of the Order of St John.
2017 – Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order(KCVO) in the New Year Honours, both in recognition of his service to the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme.
2022 – The Royal Geographical Society Founder’s medal for enabling science through expeditions, and inspiring younger generations of geographers.
2023 – The Polar Medal and second bar by King Charles 111 for his work in the Arctic and Antarctic up to 2022.
Books
David has authored the following books.
1993 – A Race Against Time: British North Pole Geomagnetic
Expedition 1992 by David Hempleman- Adams
1998 – Toughing It Out: The Adventures Of A Polar
Explorer And Mountaineer by David Hempleman- Adams
1999 – Walking On Thin Ice by David Hempleman-Adams
2009 – The Heart of the Great Alone – Scott, Shackleton and Antarctic Photography by David Hempleman- Adams, Sophie Gordon and Emma Stuart
2014 – No Such Thing As Failure: The Extraordinary Life of a Great
British Adventurer by David Hempleman- Adams
Prince Philip: Sir David Hempleman-Adams mourns ‘real, wonderful’ Philip
Explorer Sir David Hempleman-Adams said the Duke of Edinburgh was “a real, wonderful person” and a “surrogate father” to him for decades.
Sir David said Prince Philip’s Duke of Edinburgh’s Award had introduced him to “adventure” at 13 and the duke was a patron on many of his expeditions.
They were in regular contact until recently and Sir David said he was a “huge influence” on his life.
“He brought so much to so many people,” Sir David said.
“He was very generous, very kind, very thoughtful, a real, wonderful person and I think our country owes him a huge debt.”
Sir David, of Box, Wiltshire, is the first man to have reached the geographic and magnetic North and South Poles and to climb the highest peaks on seven continents.
“Whenever he was a patron on my expeditions [the duke] would get me up to his library,” he said.
“It was a real interrogation of what I was doing and when I got back he would always ask really searching questions.
“It wasn’t just a tick of a box – he really was interested.”
He said Prince Philip had been a “surrogate father” after Sir David’s own father died in his 50s.
“I met him a lot of times because I did the [Duke of Edinburgh’s Award] and then I was a patron of his scheme so we had quite a lot of time together,” Sir David added.
“He brought so much to so many people, and so many millions of people who did his scheme.
“[Taking part in the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award] was at the right time of my life to be a huge influence.”
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