With gin, additionally, I think there’s so much room within the category, an infinite variety of botanicals and combinations, the different methods you can use. There are several thousand gins worldwide now, but I’m hoping there’s room for everyone. If you want to give a tour as a present to your loved ones (or yourself!), scroll down further for the link to our gift vouchers! Our distillery tour involves a hands on experience of Brighton Gin’s production process - you can wax your own bottle, design and apply your own label and take home your own customised Brighton Gin miniature, too! I also love that gin is now enjoyed across the gender and age spectrum. When I was at university, a hundred years ago, I was laughed at for drinking gin as “that’s my nan’s drink”. It’s now enjoyed across the generations, all drinking it in different ways, and it doesn’t have that perceived gender barrier that, say, single malt whisky does.

It’s accessible, approachable, with tons of room for innovation and creativity. Also, fundamentally delicious. I love that our conversations with consumers have evolved – five years ago they were about persuading people to try it neat, now people ask straight away about distillation methods and botanicals. Kathy: Our initial vast list of botanicals has been whittled down to six, every one of which has earned its place in the bottle. We’ve created a gin that is smooth enough to be sipped neat and is certified vegan too, so it can be drunk with a clear conscience. Kathy: That’s absolutely true, we do everything by hand from start to finish. The distillation itself takes a day, including hand-peeling fruit and crushing juniper and coriander. Once distilled and adjusted for ABV we rest the gin for a minimum of 24 hours before tasting and signing off. Brighton Ginwas born of a passion for gin, and a passion for the place where we live and play - we wanted to create a gin that embodied the spirit of Brighton: unusual, playful and fiercely independent.Kathy: There’s a couple of factors influencing the gin boom – one is the interest in provenance, quality and localism which was led by craft brewing. What’s happening in craft spirits is following that. But don’t just take our word for it – it won an Outstanding at the IWSC 2022, Gold at the Nordic Spirits Awards 2020, and the Craft Distilling Expo named it their Navy Gin of the Year! Kathy: Ellie was pretty much the first person to hear me banging on about wanting to make Brighton Gin eight years ago and it’s a delight to work with her every day. And the job title? Mainly because of the look on Ellie’s face when we discussed her being Head of Sales! Our Brighton Gin Seaside Navy Strength Gin has dropped anchor for good time gulls and buoys everywhere!

As a hand-crafted product that takes time and a lot of hands to make, our focus is on quality and consistency, not volume. It’s a labour-intensive production method but we’re proud of it. It’s also keeping my mum St Jude gainfully employed and out of trouble! In true Brighton Gin tradition, each bottle is filled, waxed and labelled by hand, topped off with our distinctive wax seal, this time in Navy Blue. Brighton Gin is vegan certified, including the waxed bottle tops, and our distillation process also means it’s gluten free. What is navy gin?

Map & Directions

Mainly though it’s through not sleeping very much, working every hour and also having an absolutely brilliant team, they not only keep the good ship Brighton Gin afloat but make it (largely!) a joy to work here.

Beginning with years of experimentation, different ingredients, combinations, distilling techniques and approaches, award-winning freelance broadcaster, producer and presenter Kathy Caton and her team finally found their perfect blend. One which embodies the spirit of Brighton; unusual, playful and fiercely independent. The Gin Guild talks to Kathy about the story behind Brighton Gin. GG: You have been working with Ellie since the outset and she is Chief Gin Peddler for the business – why did you choose this title? Kathy Caton: The idea for Brighton Gin came to me as an absolute light-bulb moment. I was out for a seafront run, the morning after a very late night on the gins (Plymouth Gin to be precise) dancing around a friend’s kitchen table – I got thinking that if I’d been drinking anything other than gin, I wouldn’t have been off my sofa, let alone going for a run! If you want to give a tour as a present to your loved ones (or yourself!), why not buy one of our Brighton Gin gift vouchers! The voucher can then be redeemed online whenever suits. AccessibilityMeet us, the makers of small-batch, super premium Brighton Gin with a behind-the-scenes tour of our distillery. Find out more about the history of craft gin, how Brighton Gin started on a kitchen table by the seaside, and the processes and botanicals we use to create Brighton’s favourite tipple today. On The Tour GG: You have no factory production lines and bottles are filled by hand. How long does it take to produce a bottle of gin and how labour intensive is it?

But more romantically, Brighton Gin is distilled in a pub in Brighton. Designed to capture the romance that is quintessentially Brighton, the Milk Thistle, even if it won’t cure/prevent your hangover, is native to the region of England from where it is distilled. #place Tasting Notes The light bulb moment was that (in my experience!) gin is the one drink that lets you get away with it. Brighton is a place that needs to get away with it on a frequent basis, and I thought ta da, the spirit of Brighton – Brighton needs its own gin. GG: Being an award-winning freelance broadcaster, producer and presenter, how do you find the time to make gin? I read an interesting piece about Brighton Gin sometime ago. It was suggested that Milk Thistle (one of the novel botanicals disclosed) was included because the plant itself contains silymarin, a compound reputed to have beneficial effects on the liver. WebMD says the jury’s out, while academic articles seem to indicate there’s some potential there that is being looked at further. The compound itself isn’t soluble in water, but it is soluble in ethanol. Meaning at higher proofs, you’ll get more of it. [solubility is the factor at play when the Ouzo effect/Louche occurs in higher proof spirits, the addition of water causes certain compounds to come out of solution].Kathy: We spent a long time perfecting our recipe. It took about two years and was done around our kitchen tables, with many mistakes along the way that I’m not embarrassed to talk about as they’re such a key part of learning.