England, 45%
Simon Ford made Ford’s Gin for mixing. For bartenders. For mixologists. For the way that most people drink their gin.
Simon Ford comes with some rather lofty credentials. Some of the gins he’s recently worked with and on include: Plymouth, Dorothy Parker and Perry’s Tot. In fact, in this gin blogger’s opinion not anywhere near a bad gin between them. Out of this experience, Ford’s Gin arose. London Distilled at Thames Distillers, the bottle and feel is steeped heavily in British Colonial icongraphy. References to India, travel, and empire are all prominently placed— and why not? After all, London Gin was distinctly colored by colonialism. The juxtaposition of Eastern hemisphere botanicals, Western Europe botanicals, and the lore of being consumed by shipmen of the British Navy, to do anything less would be a disservice to the history behind it? No?
But oddly Ford’s gin stands against a trend we’re seeing in gin distilling. While many distilleries are going local, or seeking to create a notion of place, Ford’s Gin uses history and lore to create a sense of place [and tradition]. Instead, “Distilled in London; Botanicals from Everywhere” graces the bottle. The botanicals come from Spain, Haiti, Morocco, China, Italy, and so on.
