Visit to Sipsmith Distillery 26 February 2015

26 Liverymen and guests visited Sipsmith's new distillery, tucked away in the backstreets off Chiswick High Road. Sipsmith was granted its licence and opened in 2009, recently moving to its current site.

We were greeted with a delicious gin and tonic and introduced to Prudence, which was their first copper still and her two more recent sisters: Constance and Patience, all of which were made in Bavaria. We learned that the raw spirit is bought in, having been made in bulk in East Anglia from wheat. It is pumped into the still and a secret recipe of 'botanicals' is added to infuse overnight and the distilling process is completed in one day. The main ingredient of gin, juniper berries, is sourced from Macedonia. Apparently the copper of the still reacts with the spirit, removing the impurities and making the end product very smooth on the palate.

Sipsmith also makes vodka and we tasted neat gin, vodka, sloe gin and damson vodka.

Suitably enlightened and refreshed, we repaired to the Princess Victoria, an imposing gin palace built in 1829 and recently restored, for supper over which there was much lively conversation!