Timber Mill Way, Gauden Rd, London SW4 6LY, Verenigd Koninkrijk
Fifty Pounds Reward The Smoothest Gin ever
A Gin Called
FIFTY POUNDS
THE SMOOTHEST GIN EVER
Fifty Pounds Gin is our name not our price! The result is a London Dry Gin that spans the centuries and allows us the liberty to describe Fifty Pounds Gin as historic in essence, modern in spirit.
From the botanicals used to the method of production and bottling Fifty Pounds Gin pays tribute to London’s rich gin history.
FIFTY POUNDS: A SMOOTH DISCOVERY
Fifty Pounds Reward The Smoothest Gin ever
We take our name from the 1736 Gin Act which imposed an annual licence fee of Fifty Pounds on those wishing to produce and sell gin. This Act was a (failed) attempt to curb the prevalent gin craze.
The bottle is based on the ‘case gin’ design of that Georgian era; tapered to allow tight end packing in a pre-bubble wrap time. Each bottle of Fifty Pounds Gin also bears its individual distillation batch number BATCH Nº 01/17 , together with the year that it was distilled.
Production of Fifty Pounds Gin is similarly shaped by history. No shortcuts; high levels of care and attention from sourcing the finest botanicals to distilling in small batches; in short, the way things used to be done. It is this attention to detail that gives Fifty Pounds Gin its remarkable smoothness and exceptional quality.
Fifty Pounds Gin is our name not our price! The result is a London Dry Gin that spans the centuries and allows us the liberty to describe Fifty Pounds Gin as historic in essence, modern in spirit.
Fifty Pounds Reward The Smoothest Gin ever
London is the global capital of gin. It is the birthplace of and the mecca of juniper-based spirits. London Dry Gin is a quality designation for pure gin that is made with natural botanicals and has no flavouring or colouring added after distillation, only water.
Fifty Pounds Gin London is distilled to perfection in small batches. Our recipe is secret, but we’re open about the botanicals used. The resulting gin is triple-filtered to achieve optimum smoothness.
Our Fifty Pounds Gin takes time – patience is a virtue, after all – but we feel the superior quality makes it all worthwhile. Happily, gin lovers and the world’s leading bartenders, mixologists and drinks writers agree.
Fifty Pounds Gin
“CASK AT THE BACK”
LIMITED EDITION OF ONLY 500 BOTTLES
Fifty Pounds Reward The Smoothest Gin ever
Fifty Pounds cask at the Back takes us back to the nineteenth century, a time when gin was transported in oak barrels. Some of these barrels had previously contained Sherry and were re-used to transport the gin between various cities and warehouses.
Cask at the back refers to those barrels which were stored at the back of the warehouse and were usually there for longer than those at the front since access was more difficult. The gin they contained thus developed a deeper colour and a slightly different character, above all in those barrels which had contained Sherry.
The Making of
FIFTY POUNDS GIN
HISTORIC IN ESSENCE, MODERN IN SPIRIT
Fifty Pounds Gin is produced in the south- west of London, at a small, celebrated distillery with more than two centuries of tradition behind it, with a beautiful still manufactured by the legendary John Dore & Co Limited.
Under the guidance of our distiller, a Master of the Worshipful Company of Distillers, no less, we use a centuries old method called “Batch Process Distillation”, because we feel this is the purest and most efficient way of obtaining the finest gin spirit.
“our recipe is a secret, the constituents, the botanicals however are not.”
Our Process
SMALL BATCH DISTILLED TO PERFECTION
The production of Fifty Pounds Gin is a delicate and painstaking process, during which our distiller discards both the ‘heads’ and ‘tails’ and selects only the ‘heart’ of the distillate, the liquid from the point when taste and alcohol content are optimum. This spirit is then thrice filtered, reducing any further impurities, to achieve optimum smoothness.
Fifty Pounds Gin is made with a combination of grain spirit – which is already distilled four times before we use it, to give greater purity – and our botanicals, a perfectly balanced combination of herbs, spices, fruits and flowers which give Fifty Pounds Gin its unique flavour profile.
In what proportions though, we can’t tell you. As we like to say, “our recipe is secret, the botanicals are not.”
The botanicals are placed into the still, along with premium neutral grain spirit and water. They are left to macerate for a short time, and then we turn on the stills, heating them gently via hot water jackets, to avoid scalding the botanicals.
The Botanicals For Our Gin
Fifty Pounds Reward The Smoothest Gin ever
BATCH DISTILLED TO PERFECTION
Our botanicals for Fifty Pounds Gin come from four different continents. Our very own plant expert selects the highest quality plants, whatever the season and wherever they are sourced.
Juniper Berries
CROATIA
Without juniper, it’s not a gin. It’s as simple as that. Ours comes from the hills of Croatia, to impart the classic gin profile and aroma, with traces of pine.
Coriander Seeds
MIDDLE EAST
From the Middle East comes coriander seed. Perhaps surprisingly, it’s coriander which gives Fifty Pounds Gin some of its citrus notes. Coriander also accentuates our gin’s exotic flavours, spicy hints, and freshness.
Orange & Lemon Peel
SPAIN
Most of our citrus comes from lemon and bitter orange peel, which we source from Spain. These create a subtle balance between Fifty Pounds’ citric aromas and flavours, and enhance the gin’s superb dryness.
Angelica Root
EUROPE
From Western Europe, we get Angelica Root. This brings a slightly earthy, spicy note to our gin but, more importantly, acts as a fixative, “glueing” together with the oils from the other botanicals.
Savory
FRANCE
Savory is a herb we get from the South of France. It has a delicate aroma, with traces of mint. It’s what gives Fifty Pounds its extra freshness and hedgerow notes.
Liquorice Powder
ITALY
Liquorice Powder, which we obtain from Calabria in Southern Italy, adds delicate, woody and bitter notes and also acts a smoothing agent.
Grains Of Paradise
AFRICA
The Gulf of Guinea, Western Africa, is where we source Grains of Paradise. The variety we use is rare and hard to source, but it’s worth it for the subtle, peppery flavour with hints of lavender it imparts.
The Final Steps
THE PERFECT BALANCE
The botanicals are placed into the still, along with premium neutral grain spirit and water. They are left to macerate for a short time, and then we turn on the stills, heating them gently via hot water jackets, to avoid scalding the botanicals.
This entire process takes around five hours at which point the liquid is split into three sections, the head, heart and tails. As mentioned above, we only use the heart.
A higher alcohol content risks distorting the combinations, while a lower percentage would rob the combinations of character.
This is left to settle for no less than three weeks, which allows the botanicals’ essentials oils to blend perfectly with the grain spirit. The final step towards achieving our precious gin is to balance the distillate obtained with the same type of neutral alcohol, together with demineralised water, to achieve the perfect balance and alcohol content.
The resulting bottle-ready gin has an alcohol content of 43.5% – the ideal percentage for drinking – whether neat, with tonic, or in a dry martini. A higher alcohol content risks distorting the combinations, while a lower percentage would rob the combinations of character.
Only in this way is the unique and complex personality of Fifty Pounds Gin achieved.
COCKTAIL RECIPES WITH FIFTY POUNDS GIN
Our Awards
BATCH DISTILLED TO PERFECTION
Gin of the Year 2016 is not the only award we’ve taken. At the London International Spirit Challenge 2010 Fifty Pounds Gin was awarded the Super Premium medal, and picked up a Silver Medal at the San Francisco World Spirits in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2016. If you’re wondering why we didn’t get silver in 2013, well, that’s because we took home a Double Gold…
2014
Double Gold Medal
The Fifty Best Awards
2013
Double Gold Medal
San Francisco World Spirits Competition
2014
Silver Medal
San Francisco World Spirits Competition
2010
Silver Medal
San Francisco World Spirits Competition
2010
Silver Medal
International Spirit Challenge
2010
Bronze Medal – International Wine & Spirit Competition
Fifty Pounds cocktails
Celebrate the smoothness of our gin with a curated selection of cocktail recipes.
Cucumber Gin Lemonade
Fifty Pounds Reward The Smoothest Gin ever
Cucumber and lemon? Why this is virtually a salad. Cough. No, no it’s not, obviously, but you know what we mean.
The Recipe
SERVING: 1
Ingredients
- 75mls fresh lemon juice
- 75mls fresh cucumber juice
- 50mls Fifty Pounds Gin
- Simple honey syrup to taste
- Club soda.
How to make or shake it
Peel and blitz half a cucumber in a blender, strain 75mls into a glass. Add the lemon juice and gin and stir. Taste, and add simple honey syrup if required. Add ice, and lengthen with club soda. Oh, and a cucumber slice makes it all look rather pretty too.
Gin Thoreau
Fifty Pounds Reward The Smoothest Gin ever
One advantage of Christmas is it’s one time of the year you might have cranberries in the house. They’re packed with Vitamin C, aside from their other health benefits.
The Recipe
SERVING: 1
Ingredients
- 50g of cranberries – or cranberries and other berries, if you prefer
- 200mls Fifty Pounds Gin
- 50mls water
- 250mls cranberry juice
- Juice of one lime
- Lemon or orange slices
- Simple honey syrup to taste
How to make or shake it
Muddle the berries, in whatever combination you’ve chosen – for the record, blueberries work very well with cranberries. Add the gin, stir thoroughly and leave for a few minutes.
In the meantime, bring the water, cranberry and lime juice to a gentle boil, then add to the muddled berries and gin. Taste, adding simple honey syrup if required. Pour into two mugs, garnish with orange or lemon slices.
Fifty Pounds Passion
Fifty Pounds Reward The Smoothest Gin ever
Try a passionate Gin mixed drink packed full of goodness and it’s low cal!
The Recipe
SERVING: 1
Ingredients
- Fifty Pounds Gin
- Fresh passion fruit
- Squeeze of lime
- Sparkling water
- Ice
How to make or shake it
Because this cocktail is all about passion, we encourage you to experiment with different serves of the Gin and sparkling water mixed with the fruit until you get it exactly where you want it.
Gimlet
Fifty Pounds Reward The Smoothest Gin ever
While detractors can dismiss the Gimlet as “alcoholic lime”, made well it is a lovely drink.
“The lime makes it so crisp and fresh, and the botanics cut through, there’s far more to it than ‘alcoholic lime’.”
The most established origin story is that the Gimlet was created in the 19th century to prevent scurvy among Royal Navy sailors and the name may refer to a Thomas Desmond Gimlette, a naval medical officer serving around this time.
The Recipe
SERVING: 1
Ingredients
- 60 ml Fifty Pounds Gin
- 20 ml Rose’s lime cordial
- Juice of 1 lime
- Ice
How to make or shake it
- Shake ingredients in a cocktail shaker with cracked ice
- Strain into a chilled cocktail glass
- Garnish with a lime
Lavender’s Blue Dilly Dilly
Fifty Pounds Reward The Smoothest Gin ever
One of my earliest memories is of dancing around the house wearing a towel as a cloak and a bowl as a crown, pretending to be a queen whilst my favourite nursery rhyme played…
“Lavender’s blue, dilly dilly, lavender’s green,
When I am king, dilly dilly, you shall be queen”.
London cocktail week is the perfect time to create a cocktail fit for any wannabe king or queen who once dreamed of living in Buckingham Palace. The beautiful citrus notes and slight spice of Fifty Pounds Gin balance perfectly with the blueberry and lavender of this regal gin cocktail, to give layers of sweet and sour, fruit and spice.
The Recipe
SERVING: 1
Ingredients
- 60ml Fifty Pounds Gin
- 30ml Blueberry Syrup
- 15ml Lavender Syrup
- 30ml Fresh Lemon Juice
- 1 Egg White
- Ice
How to make or shake it
Chill a coupe glass
Dry shake the egg white with 1 piece of ice for 30 seconds
Add the other ingredients and a handful of ice to the shaker and shake well
Strain into your chilled glass
Recipe courtesy of The Olde Privy
Gin Gimlet
Fifty Pounds Reward The Smoothest Gin ever
It’s one of our favourites and a genuine classic. This version removes the cordial and ups the Vitamin C.
The Recipe
SERVING: 1
Ingredients
- 50mls Fifty Pounds Gin
- The juice of two limes
- Simple honey syrup to taste
How to make or shake it
Combine all the ingredients in a glass with ice. Add simple syrup to taste – optional, of course. Garnish with a lime wedge.
The History Of Gin
THE GIN ACT 1736
Although some say gin originated in Italy, the British owe it all to Holland in the 17th century. At that time, gin was sold in Dutch shops as a medicine to treat ailments such as stomach complaints and gallstones, and flavoured with juniper, a berry said to have its own medicinal properties. In Dutch, juniper is known as jeneverbes, which gave the “medicine” its Dutch name, jenever. British troops fighting the Thirty Years war in the Low Countries were given warming tots of jenever to ward off the effects of the damp conditions. This process gave us the expression “Dutch courage”, and saw British troops reduce the name from jenever to gin.
When William of Orange took the English throne in 1689, he encouraged the rise of British distillation, passing a series of statutes that restricted imports and made it far easier to produce alcoholic spirits. All too frequently, however, this resulted in spirits of very dubious quality. Gin consumption boomed across the nation, particularly among the poor. It became so popular, in fact, that gin sometimes formed part of a worker’s wages.
By 1730, London alone had over 7000 spirit shops: some reports suggest that gin was distilled and sold in as many as one fifth of all London homes. This excessive and uncontrolled consumption – known as the Gin Craze – provoked a rapid degradation of society. Something had to be done to curb this “social evil”.
That’s why, under the reign of George II, the 1736 Gin Act was introduced. Its aim was to restrict production and the sale of gin by imposing an annual levy of £50. By the time the act was repealed in 1742, only two distilleries had agreed to pay this tax. But, you know, it did give us a rather good name…
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