Bombay Sapphire Opens Revolutionary New Distillery
Contributed by on Oct 07, 2014
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Last week, powerhouse gin brand Bombay Sapphire opened a brand new state of the art distillery in the old Laverstoke Mill in Hampshire. The choice of Laverstoke Mill is more than convenience, the site holds credit to one of the oldest remaining mills in the world dating back to at least 903 AD and used to produce the watermarked cotton paper used for the English and British Empire bank notes. In acknowledgement of this heritage, the company renovated the old mill into a state-of-the-art sustainable distillery and as such have already earned a BREEAM Award of Industrial Design for their effort.
Image c/o Iwan Baan
Image c/o Iwan Baan
Image c/o Iwan Baan
Recruiting the aid of Thomas Heatherwick, the designer behind the Olympic cauldron and the new Routemaster London buses, Thomas and his team restored the original brick and flint grade II listed buildings to much of their former glory. Amongst the new and redeveloped 40 buildings on the site is a centerpiece of stark yet complimentary contrast to its historic surroundings. Two steampunk-esq botanical glasshouses (one tropical and one temperate) where visitors can see, smell and touch the brands core ten botanicals in their natural state. In addition to the glass houses, visitors to the distillery can further experience a Botanical Dry Room, view the unique 18th century design Carter-Head Pot Stills and finally enjoy a Bombay Sapphire cocktail in the Mill Bar overlooking the restored River Test.
With the premium gin category experiencing a global rediscovery, many of the more traditional marks are having to re appraise their image to compete with the emerging popularity of craft brands. For global icon Bombay Sapphire however, they have long-held reputation as a category defining brand and for bringing much of the cool back to what used to be an old fashioned genre. While it may not be produced in a garage in East London by hairy bartenders, from the britches of Belgian monks or from hand foraged arctic botanicals – with the opening of their new distillery Bombay Sapphire has yet again shown that they are still one of the most creative and stylish brands in existence. Oh – and the gin tastes great too!
[Visit Distillery Site: distillery.bombaysapphire.com]
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