The Tarquin’s range is the brainchild of Tarquin Leadbetter, founder of Southwestern Distillery in north Cornwall back in 2012. The shiny, metallic soul of the distillery is Tamara, the hand-baten, flame-fired copper pot still named after the goddess of Tamar. From this still comes Tarquin’s Handcrafted Cornish Gin, which features botanicals along the lines of orris root from Morocco, green cardamom seeds from Guatemala, cinnamon from Madagascar and Devon violets plucked from Tarquin’s garden.
The first bottles of Tarquin’s Handcrafted Cornish Gin made their way to shelves in 2013, and shortly joined by Tarquin's Cornish Pastis. That’s Cornish P-A-S-T-I-S, not Cornish P-A-S-T-I-E-S. No baked goods allowed in the stills at Southwestern Distillery. Tarquin was inspired by the traditionally French aperitif, but has given it a few local twists, including Gorse flowers picked from Cornish cliff tops and water from a nearby spring.
Despite being fairly new on the scene, the Southwestern Distillery has been rather prolific, releasing some smashing variations on their recipe, like the Tonquin, Cornish Crocus and The Seadog Navy Strength, which took home the title of Best Gin at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2017.