Sipsmith

If you have even the slightest interest in British craft spirits (or simply just quite like a good gin), you’ll undoubtedly have heard of Sipsmith. The distillery’s founders, Sam Galsworthy and Fairfax Hall, kicked open their doors in London in 2009, becoming the first copper pot-based distillery to do so in almost 200 years. With Master Distiller Jared Brown by their side, they launched their own spectacular gin, and soon enough a vodka and various seasonal expressions. Though it wasn’t quite as simple as that. Y’see, when the Sipsmith chaps tried to get a licence, they were planning for their Hammersmith-based outfit to be quite small indeed, which HMRC wasn’t too excited about (not the technical term, obviously). It took over two years of lobbying for the law to be changed and Sipsmith to be granted their licence. Not only did it mean they were able to start making their own drinks, it also allowed many others to open their own distilleries too! Sipsmith began in a small building on Nasymth Street which was previously a microbrewery and the office of the legendary drinks writer Michael Jackson. They soon outgrew the building and headed west to Chiswick - this building houses their first copper pot still, Prudence, as well as her sisters Constance and Patience.