Highclere Castle Spirits, the Centerbrook-based creator of the award-winning Highclere Castle Gin, announced that its product will now be available within the company’s home state via a new pact with Stratford-based Connecticut Distributors.
“We are thrilled to announce that the award-winning Highclere Castle Gin is now available across the state of Connecticut, thanks to our partnership with Connecticut Distributors,” said the company in a LinkedIn post. “Join us in raising a glass to this new chapter and the opportunity to enjoy the world’s best gin right here in Connecticut. Cheers to unforgettable moments and the timeless taste of Highclere Castle Gin!”
Highclere Castle Gin was conceived by entrepreneur Adam von Gootkin, who also created Onyx Moonshine, and Lord and Lady Carnarvon, the owners and residents of Britain’s Highclere Castle – which might be recognizable to most Americans as the Crawley family’s stately mansion in the popular “Downton Abbey” television and film productions. The Highclere Castle grounds offer the ingredients used in the gin’s creation.
“We have botanicals grown on the estate, including lavender planted by the Bishops of Winchester in the 1600s, juniper, oranges that have grown in the Victorian-era orangery — even the oats planted on the estate used to sell to very high-end thoroughbred racehorses, including the Queen’s racehorses,” von Gootkin said in a February 2019 interview with WAG Magazine.
In creating their product, von Gootkin and the Carnarvons went through 24 recipes before hitting on a blend that they considered to be perfect. The product is produced by Langley Distillery, Britain’s largest gin manufacturer,
“We wanted it to be a gin that was not too weird or strange or risky, but also new and fun,” von Gootkin recalled. “By having botanicals from estate, it is robust and floral. It is different from any gin that anyone’s ever had, but in a high-end, super-elegant way. It’s benefitting of the name and destination.”
Highclere Castle Gin has been available through retail channels since 2019.
