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Reverend Hubert Winter Gin Liqueur - 50cl, 27% ABV | Premium Alcoholic Drink Made with Natural Real Fruit | A Gin Liqueur Handmade in the UK | Perfect with Prosecco | Ideal for Gifts & Parties

£8.69£17.38Clearance
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Susan: Now how long did it take you to create this label? Cause it’s, it’s really beautiful and it’s pretty intricate. Tom: Yeah. Yeah. He was nervous. When I met Joe for lunch it was clear, first of all, within one minute that we were going to be friends and get on. I think Joe is not a person who is going to do something by halves and unless he thinks it’s a good idea. So, when we’re meeting for lunch, I was probably just looking forward to a nice lunch and where’s it going to go? It was that that gave it the freshness and the boost. Then you had a bit of gloopiness afterwards, but what I mean, I think, when I looked at some that was left over a year later, the sediment was halfway up of the bottle. So, it wasn’t an attractive looking thing.

Tom: Exactly. And then, I started going through his stuff and there’s an amazing Bible. And then I look into the family history without getting a bit kind of Who Do You Think You Are type of thing. And it was interesting. Susan: All right. So, you got it in the Cotswolds. You have it in the bottle. What do you do next? Obviously, you laugh. Label within a label The label and design looks to reflect the mixed personality of Reverend HubertTom: Susan. Good question. I lived in Australia for a long time. I absolutely love Sydney. It’s one of my favorite places in the world. New Year’s in Sydney, there’s a place on Bondi Beach called Icebergs, right, which is an amazing restaurant. You can sit there, you can watch the surfers, you can see everything coming in. Tom: Okay. Sorry. Yeah. Right. So, Hubert is my great-grandfather. He was a chap who I didn’t know much about who a composer of music was. He was an amazing Reverend; he was a chess champion. He fought in the war, so lots of really interesting, good stuff, but having said all that, right. He also was married a couple of times and it was clear that he enjoyed a party. Because of that, I started making a limoncello because in London, for me, 10 years ago, it was quite difficult to find a nice limoncello. I started importing Amalfi lemons and zesting them, so then at the end, we could all have a shot or two and keep going. That progressed into now every time I have a dinner party, I’ve got to have some kind of cool homemade something or other.

TASTING NOTES: Our gold award-winning Winter Gin Liqueur is distinctive, original, balanced, & smooth. Bursting with aromatic notes of dried fruit, winter spices from Sri Lanka and the freshest orange & lemon zest from the Amalfi coast. Susan: Absolutely, just one caveat. Do not shake champagne. Do not shake champagne and anything with bubbles. Also, as we all learned, you don’t just have to stir a Negroni. We learned that last year with our dear friend Stanley Tucci who shook his Negroni all over the place. He certainly was not looking to make his life any easier, but such was his determination to get as close to his ancestor’s original recipe it meant going the extra mile to get the ingredients just right. Then there is the gin, which is procured from the Wood Brothers distillery a premium “farm to bottle” gin and vodka distillery in Oxfordshire made to a tailor made recipe.I think things are more serious now. We’ve got some investment in the business. There’s only so long that you could make 5,000 bottles demand, which is great. It’s too big for me to keep it up on my own. I need people to help me and to do that. I now have a responsibility to other people, which I love. We’ve got fun people involved, we’ve got the Duke of Norfolk, Eddy, who has invested in spirits before and who knows what he’s doing. He who brings cleverness and knowledge and fun to the party. That’s the experience that we’re going for. And we’ve got a garden gin version Fortnum and Mason would like me to make something else for them. Tom: Yeah. Then I got introduced to Joe and some people know Joe, so Joe has got the most amazing brain when it comes to processes and his palate is recognized as one of the best in the world. Joe is a guy who, when you meet him, you don’t forget him. He has got a ridiculous palate and a ridiculous knowledge of anything to do with alcohol or wine.

Susan: You just have to ask. People can always say no, but you just have to ask. Sometimes it works out with you and Fortnum Mason, how fabulous. So, they’ve got it in a glass case. It says Reverend Hubert Winter Gin Liqueur, come on and get it. How did it do? Tom: We do, right? The summer version, if winter is a mince pie, summer is daisies and gardens and plums and rhubarb and pomegranates and a nice alternative to our traditional Pimm’s and a big jug of something outside with a few strawberries. That had a success over this summer, but next year, we’re really going to boost it and get it out of about. Susan: I’m so excited to have you here. It was so great to meet you last year. I’ve wanted to have you on the show for so long. And now of course, winter is here and since you make a winter liqueur, it was time. Where did this idea even come from?I’ve seen all these pictures of him at a lot of parties. They’re either photos in the church of, you can imagine a Christmas Eve gathering a few carols and then a few drinks, all that situated on a tennis court because he was a big tennis fan. He insisted on a grass court naturally next to the Vicarage. When I look at all the pics, whenever I see him, he’s smiling. He’s happy. He’s jolly. He’s clearly enjoying his life and the label, right? Susan: No, no, no, no, no. It’s for now, but no one knows anything about it. How about Reverend Herbert? All that stuff. Tom: And part of having these parties is that we all love a party, but also, it’s the excitement and the buildup and what wine am I going to choose? Right. That’s kind of the joy of doing these things. And so, on Christmas Day, one year I made a basic version of what is now the Winter Gin Liqueur and it was cloudy and gloopy. To find the best liqueur, our panel of 10 WSET-trained experts and consumers tried 37 fun flavours from the leading supermarkets and brands. They were looking for a well-balanced, easy-drinking liqueur they’d be proud to serve at the end of a meal. All products were served chilled and blind to prevent brand bias. When we make things, I might seem weird, but I’m always surprised that it works with this liqueur with the lemons and the oranges and the spices and the sweetness , there’s always something that can match and blend with something else.

Many years later, the Reverend’s Great Grandson, Thomas Lester found his own passion for crafting liqueurs after taking inspiration from his honeymoon to the Amalfi coast. He began experimenting at home using locally foraged ingredients and shared the fruits of his labour at family gatherings. During one such event, Thomas’ aunt shared a beaten-up WWI hip flask along with the original recipe for Reverend Hubert’s Winter Gin Liqueur. OUR STORY: Originally made in the vicarage in 1904 by Reverend Hubert Bell Lester for his congregation’s Christmas party; the recipe has been recreated and improved by his great-grandson Thomas. Tom: It was still the same fun. Susan, the point is and the joy of doing this is that it’s just good run. Right? So, every day there’s good fun. I enjoy meeting people. I enjoy chatting to people.Susan: Exactly. It was the Negroni that was heard around the world. Now I always leave my guests asking them one question, which is, if you could be drinking anything anywhere right now, where would that be? And what would it be? Susan: Were you like, oh my God, I can’t believe that a relative of mine was making a spirit and I’m making the same spirit practically? There was a different tannin for Joe, the cost is irrelevant. Okay. So, Joe just wants to make the best. And at some point, you have to say, yeah, I’m afraid we can’t have the Guatemalan well-known raisin that only comes out five times a year, five buds a year. I’m like, let’s just calm it down. So, we did the best we could while keeping it a viable project. So much so that he now has a 10% stake in the business and is committed to hand peeling Amalfi oranges and lemons for large parts of the year. Born in England in 1868, Hubert was the son of a wealthy merchant family. After graduating from Cambridge University, he was set to follow in his father’s footsteps working in the family business, living a life of privilege and comfort.

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