Hendrick’s Gin Distillery
Designed to meet the growing global demand for Hendrick’s, the Hendrick’s Gin Palace and distillery has been artfully and magnificently expanded. The development is the brand’s most significant since launching in 1999.
William Grant & Sons, the family owned independent global spirts company, has invested £13m in the expansion, a reflection of the confidence and excitement it has in the future of Hendrick’s. The distillery has doubled its capacity to meet demand and the extraordinary facilities that are now available to Hendrick’s Master Distiller Lesley Gracie will allow her to unleash her creativity. She said:
“I’ve been distilling Hendrick’s for almost twenty years and during that time, my team and I have had the opportunity to explore and experiment on a small scale. However, I’m thrilled and excited to take full advantage of our wonderful new distillery and begin working on a line of experimental liquids, some of which will hopefully blossom into future releases and potential new expressions of Hendrick’s.”
Pamela Selby, the Global Brand Director for Hendrick’s added: “The Hendrick’s Gin Palace in its design and experience, is intended to inspire curiosity, open minds and serve as a platform for invention. It pulls back the curtain on the wondrous production method and showcases the many layers of Hendrick’s that it has become celebrated for, some humorous, others curiously intellectual, detailed and deeply meaningful. It represents the confidence we have in the brand that helped to kick-start the ginaissance and leading role it has played ever since.”
The expansion includes the addition of a walled garden, two botanical hot houses, laboratory, lecture theatre, bar and two stunning new still houses. Award-winning architectural practice Michael Laird Architects was tasked with overseeing the distillery’s new look. Associate Mark Lewis spoke to Premier Hospitality about the work:
“If you know anything about Hendrick’s, they’ve created this incredibly elaborate world around their brand. They had quite a detailed brief about exactly what they wanted. It’s a Victorian inspired theme because that’s very much what they’re brand is all about. That was fantastic because it’s this wonderful world you delve into and try to come up with something appropriate for it. They knew what they wanted. They knew they had to primarily increase their capacity but they also wanted to create this wonderful world where they could bring brand ambassadors.
“We’ve got a Victorian-inspired, walled-garden, which encloses the three central glasshouses. The central glasshouse is where Hendrick’s will host a variety of events. Just off this central glasshouse are two smaller glasshouses. They’re actually working glasshouses. One contains flora indigenous to a Mediterranean environment such as lemons and oranges. The other one is a tropical environment. Together they act as a playground for Leslie, the head Botanist and creator of Hendrick’s, to cultivate and experiment to create new expressions of the spirit.
“The central glasshouse is quite a wonderful space because from there you can see directly to still house number one, out to the garden or on your flanks you’ve got these two wonderful populated glasshouses.”
The Hendrick’s family of stills now stands at a proud six – four Bennett stills including the original antique copper pot still hailing from 1860, three precise replicas and two Carter Heads including one original constructed in 1948 and one exact reproduction. The new stills have been active for almost a year producing the same delicious liquid that tastes exactly like Hendrick’s did on the day it was launched. Mark added:
“It was an absolutely wonderful project. It’s not very often that you get such a rich brief. There are so many points of reference where you can start from. It was really hard work but it’s rewarding because at the end we’ve got something we’ve never done before, which is pretty fantastic.”
