A couple of weeks ago I was very lucky and visited the new distillery of Hayman’s Gin! They have recently re-branded their bottles and have moved from Essex to Balham. The distillery is absolutely beautiful and you can also go for a visit!
The ginealogy of Hayman’s dates back over 150 years, making the producers the only family of original English gin makers still distilling today. And here is why it survived and has been appreciated for so long…
A sip of an Old Tom-style distillation offers an interesting look into the history of gin. Sweeter than your classic London dry, it’s often referred to as “the missing link” between old-school Dutch genever (the sweet spirit from which modern gin originated), and the now popular London Gin.
Originating in Britain during the 18th century, Old Tom was the traditional gin of choice for cocktails like the Tom Collins, Gin Rickey, and Martinez. The spirit all but died out in the middle part of the 20th century, though these days it’s enjoying something of a revival. The UK’s Hayman Distillers launched an Old Tom gin in 2007, which is probably the most well known but others soon followed suit including Jensens Gin.