From bathrooms to botanics to the Manor’s first batch of gin

We have made our own gin. 250 bottles have been filled and will be up for grabs over the next few weeks.

But there’s a trove of thought, craft and care behind this rare spirit, and a story we’d like to share with you. It’s one where three’s anything but a crowd and Ringo’s in his element as we get by with a little help from our friends.

Sarah Ireland (as in designer of the Manor’s original bathrooms) introduced us to her friends at Piston Gin. When they came round to pitch their gin to our resident French drinks-maestro, Loic, he swung them a curve ball; could we collaborate on a bespoke Hampton Manor gin? But there was someone else that Loic wanted to invite to the party. As a man who spends his spare time foraging and researching how mother nature can find herself reimagined in his cocktails, Loic was looking for a way to use cascara. Cascara are the skins of coffee cherries, and are usually either discarded as waste or used as compost once their fruit has been removed. With a call into the guys at HasBean we’d sourced our cascara, secured our distillery and bagged ourselves a delicious, sustainability fuelled challenge.

Next came the testing, tasting and compulsory jar sniffing. Piston, Loic and our James met their eureka moment over the combination of 10 mysterious botanicals. The full list of ingredients is a Coca-Cola level secret, but here’s what we can pilfer:

Botanicals
Juniper, naturally, headlines the ingredients list. Cascara, the once-waste product, comes a close second, with seaweed, santo chillies and pink peppercorns balancing the sweetness of the cascara.

Flavour
The main flavour when it is drunk with tonic is reminiscent of black tea.

Nose
For Loic, the nose is of baked apples or a fresh apple pie.

Look
This isn’t a London gin, it’s not clear. It is, unsurprisingly, a mild, coffee-like brown.

This batch is a touch away from being available for you to buy and try at the Manor, and the rumour is that Loic hopes to launch a second batch in time for Christmas.

The bottles and labels are being branded and designed as we speak. And the name? With a waste-product at its roots and a mischievous French-man behind it, this one’s too good to miss: Wasted.