It’s been a busy couple of years for the family-run Hayman’s Gin.
Last year the brand launched their campaign to “Call Time on Fake Gin” directed at products that called themselves gin but didn’t taste of juniper. Earlier this year they developed their Small Gin, a full gin concentrate that only requires 5mls to get that full Juniper taste.
Most recently they began to look at another branch of their family tree, and explore the lost art of London rum blending with the opening of Charles Merser & Co.
Yet James and Miranda Hayman appear to be taking it all in stride. As is their father Christopher, who is celebrating 50 years in the gin industry and was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Gin Guild.
But it’s the family’s decision to move the stills back to London last year that speaks most to their heritage. The site which they chose in Balham in South London is only four miles from where the company was founded 150 years ago.
The new distillery has given them more room for new stills but also plenty of space to conduct masterclasses and distillery tours. For Hayman’s, like so many gin producers, distillery tourism is booming.
On average, the new distillery receives about 250 visitors a week. They do tours just about every day, while simultaneously running a working distillery. And it seems their efforts haven’t gone unnoticed with Trip Advisor rating them umber 20 of the 2,183 things there are to do in London (in fact, they are just behind Buckingham Palace, which is number 19).
The upstairs mezzanine bar acts as a training area for the on-trade as well as double up as a tasting area for consumers and distillery visitors.
There is also a downstairs, ‘laboratory’ where visitors can get up close and personal with the 10 botanicals that go into the gin.
Hayman’s offers gin masterclasses in which they explain the whole process of distillation. If you want to know about gin and you are going to be in London, we recommend a visit to Hayman’s, after all, who better to talk gin than 5th generation distillers.
For more information go to haymansgin.com
