London, July 19th, 2025

During the days in London I had the opportunity to visit two different distilleries; Sipsmithsand Hayman´s.

Both of them quality producers, but with a very different story. While Sipsmith is one of the newest in London, and the one claiming to restart the whole gin artisan movement in England. Hayman´s is a family business since 1863.

In comparison, the Sipsmith tour was a bit more about the brand and the recent founders, while the tour in Hayman´s was more about the ingredients.

The old bus refurbished to be a bar was really cool.

The swan as their symbol refers to the «swan neck», which is the term for the top of the distillery pot.

The tasting took place in the production hall.

Their three pot stills, made from copper in Germany.

The production method of London Dry Gin is not simple, but straight forward. Different ingredients, including juniper berries, are put in the stills with pure grain spirits, and then blended for up to 48 hours. The still is then heated to 82 degrees celcius to allow the alcohol to vaporize which will carry with it the aromas and oils of the ingredients. This takes 2 to 4 hours.

Hayman´s was also in a similar building, quite new, also with three stills and the tasting held in the production hall.

Much more of the tour was oriented toward the different ingredients they put in their base gin – 10 ingredients that has been the same since the start of the distillery. The blend ratio is a big secret.

We also got to blend our own spice mix from the 10 ingredients, and passed it around to see how much our blends differed. Very interesting and relevant for the wine course I had just finished.

Both tours were enjoyable and the quality of their gins is top notch.