This small distillery's gin is a delight. Discover The Drunken Horse Gin
November 6, 2021
Small distilleries, founded by groups of enthusiasts, are bringing to market spirits completely different from those we're used to. Products that prove that not everything has been invented yet. The question, "Which gin from a small distillery should you choose?", can be answered with another question: "Have you ever met a drunken horse?"
Discover the story told by a group of friends who created an extraordinary gin that became a hit and the first choice of many fine restaurants around the world. A surprising blend of distinct flavors led to the creation of The Drunken Horse Gin.
We are three friends (Benoît, Tom, and Pieter-Jan) who own a microdistillery in Belgium, near Antwerp, called Gentlemen's Craft. Here we produce our award-winning gin: The Drunken Horse Gin.
Our story begins like this: Benoît has two food trucks. One night, after a big party, we were sitting in Tom's garden and saw an old horse trailer. We thought, "Let's turn this trailer into a bar that would perfectly complement the food trucks." We called it Drunken Horse Bar.
Since we grow all the vegetables for our food trucks ourselves on a small farm, we decided to do the same for the bar and make all the drinks ourselves. We started with gin. We went to Portobello Road in London and learned the basics of distilling London Dry Gin.
After returning home, we decided to do everything ourselves and started looking for a kettle. We met a Dutchman who had built his own kettle. He thought, "Why is everyone distilling using kettles that have the same technology as 200-300 years ago? I'll try to improve this system." We listened to him and decided to buy his kettle.
We began our search for the perfect blend of botanicals. We wanted a gin with a citrus character, so we started with pink grapefruit peel, lime, and lemongrass. We created a citrus gin that was super smooth and delicious, but not exceptional. It needed something more—more depth, more flavor, more complexity. So we went in search of peppers. On the slopes of the Himalayas, on the Nepalese side, we found the pepper that changed our gin and our lives: the Timut pepper. This wonderful pepper has notes of grapefruit, passionflower, jasmine, and more. It was the perfect pepper for our gin. We added two other peppers and created a gin with 12 botanicals.
We served this gin to our customers, some of whom are gin experts (we weren't at the time). They told us our small-distillery gin was super smooth, citrusy, and three-note. They added that we should enter competitions. We sent our bottle to San Francisco, Hong Kong, and Stuttgart and won several gold and double gold medals. So we decided to visit Michelin-starred restaurants and high-end cocktail bars. Sommeliers and mixologists were thrilled with the quality and started buying our gin. From there, we started working in gin. It's been an incredible journey, and the best is yet to come.
About The Drunken Horse Gin's Flavor Profile
Gin with a hint of the Himalayas.
The Drunken Horse Gin is a London Dry Gin crafted at our Gentlemen's Craft microdistillery. It features three flavor notes.
First note: Citrus
Derived from freshly peeled grapefruit, lime and lemongrass peels.
Second note: Earth
A soft sensation on the center of the tongue thanks to cardamom and coriander.
Third note: Spicy
The third note is spicy thanks to a collection of three peppers, the most distinctive of which is the Nepalese Timut pepper. Because this rare pepper has lemony notes, the third note echoes the first, lemony note.
Information about the limited edition vermouth: Vermut con Timut
"When the Tramuntana meets the Himalayas.".
A collaboration between The Drunken Horse Gin and Jaume de Puntiro
With Pieter-Jan, one of the owners of DH, who lives in Mallorca, we started experimenting with the many wonderful products that this Balearic island has to offer.
We decided to create Vermouth in collaboration with Pere Calafat, winemaker/owner of the Jaume de Puntiro bodega in Santa Maria. We used local Giro Rosé grapes to create the orange wine that forms the basis of our Vermouth, and combined it with the many botanicals that the Tramuntana Mountains have to offer, such as oranges and lemons from Sollér, cinnamon, star anise, fennel, sage, wormwood, etc., plus Timut pepper from the Himalayas, the main ingredient in The Drunken Horse Gin.
The result? A surprising blend of citrus, sweetness, and spice. A fresh vermouth with a complex and surprising body, just like our gin. Enjoy it over ice with a slice of orange or grapefruit, or make your own Negroni, Dry Martini, Manhattan, or Rob Roy.
The label artwork was created by our friend Igor Morski, a surrealist artist from Poland. See all his work here…
