Cambridge Illu-gins

Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!

Or should we...

Gin made by artificial intelligence? Citrus Gin without any actual citrus? Truffles... in Gin? Your eyes aren’t deceiving you. No sleight-of-hand tricks here. There’s definitely a man behind that curtain, and he’s doing some downright extraordinary things with your Gin.

But instead of Oz, our story begins in the UK — Cambridge to be exact. Where William and Lucy Lowe of Cambridge Distillery conducts fantastical experiments with his Spirits, working in a mad scientists’ fevered dream of a laboratory to create Gins that stretch the boundaries of imagination… and palates.

Awarded the most innovative distillery in the world three consecutive times by the World Beverage Innovation Awards, Cambridge Distillery is messing with the public’s perception of Gin in phenomenally bizarre ways. William and Lucy Lowe, Cambridge’s founders, were inspired by the plants, herbs and flowers they found in their own backyard — ones that almost all traditional Gin brands were largely ignoring.

What began as a way to capture the taste of the English seasons using botanicals grown around their home, grew into an experimental ethos that launched them on a funky journey informed by science and a healthy dose of experimentation.

But their commitment to creating the most meticulously produced Gin on the market is the reason for their success. Each botanical is individually distilled to achieve the perfect flavor. Temperature, timing and pressure are just three of the nine variables they tailor to each and every botanical before blending these individual distillates into a harmonious whole.

In this box, you’ll get to sample some of Cambridge’s masterpieces, including the umami-packed Cambridge Truffle Gin, the delicate Cambridge Japanese Gin and the herbaceous pine of Cambridge Seasonal Gin. Each one is a small taste of the future and the true potential of Gin.

So to that, we raise our glasses to great Spirits, the magic in innovation and delicious experimentation. Cheers!

Smartass Corner:

1) Every single Gin Cambridge Distillery commercially released has been awarded at least a Gold Medal at international competition.

2) Like many of its Spirit brethren, Gin was originally intended to be used as a medicine. A Dutch physician by the name of Franciscus Sylvius created genever as a way to improve circulation and other ailments.

3) Gin was first created in… Holland. Even though the botanical Spirit stands as England’s national tipple, they discovered it while fighting the Dutch War of Independence in the 17th century and brought the Spirit back home with them.

4) The term "bathtub Gin" was no misnomer. During Prohibition, Gin was created by mixing cheap grain alcohol with flavorings like juniper berry and left to ferment in bathtubs. It was often a dicey proposition to drink it though, sometimes leading to blindness and even death.

5) In 2018, global consumption of Gin grew faster than any other beverage alcohol category. A large part of this is due to an increased interest in botanicals and plant-based lifestyles.

6) Who are the biggest consumers of Gin in the world? Although you might be tempted to say the Brits, it’s actually the Philippines. There’s even a Tagalog word for a Gin-drinking session: Ginuman.

7) There are more than 700 cocktails made with Gin — sip on that.