Ealing Gin is what constitutes a “London Dry Gin”.
Contrary to what some might think, it is not about where it is made. If this were the criteria, Ealing Gin would, of course, qualify being made right in the heart of Ealing, West London. The truth is, a gin made anywhere could qualify as a London Dry.
The unequivocal “qualification” for being a London Dry Gin is all about how it is made. All the flavour in a London Dry Gin must be created via the distillation process - absolutely no additives (flavour essences, colours etc) can be added afterwards. In short, with a London Dry Gin what you distill is what you get... there’s no messing about with the flavour afterwards.
The base spirit must have originated agriculturally, and be of an ABV of 96%. This is subsequently redistilled with juniper, after which it has to come off the still at least 70% ABV. The subsequent concentrate, which goes on to be diluted with neutral spirit and water (to a strength not below 37.5% ABV), must be clear, not coloured. All flavour comes through the distillation; no additives.
Of course this means you have to get your recipe and your distillation exactly right! We worked on our Ealing Gin recipe (our beautiful mix of botanicals) for a long time tweaking and changing many times to create the deep-flavoured, distinct taste we wanted. When we distil, we fill up Felicity (our traditional copper still) with the precise mix of botanicals along with 96% ABV neutral grain spirit and pure filtered water. The botanicals steep for a full 24 hours before we switch Felicity on and let her do her magic. We discard the first and last parts of the distillation (called the heads and the tails) collecting only “the hearts” which, again for a London Dry, must be above 70% ABV. This gorgeous liquid is “cut” to 42% ABV with pure filtered water and this is the beautiful, smooth, deep-flavoured, gin that goes into our stunning Ealing Gin bottles.
Nothing is added, no further flavour or essence, it’s just our lovely clean, distinctive Ealing Gin... truly The Queen of London Dry Gins.
