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The Queen is known to enjoy a tipple and the end of a long day, with gin among the monarch’s favourite beverages.
And now royal fans can get their own taste of Her Majesty’s favourite spirit as the royal has launched a new botanicals made with plants grown in her Sandringham estate.
The batch of Sandringham Celebration Gin which is priced at £50 for a 50cl bottle was made in a distillery on the estate in north Norfolk.
Royal fans can get their own taste of Her Majesty’s favourite spirit as the royal has launched a new botanicals made with plants grown in her Sandringham estate
It is the third brand of the spirit to be marketed by the Royal family, cashing in on the popularity of the drink.
Prince Charles recently launched his own organic Highgrove gin just months after the Royal Collection Trust started selling a Buckingham Palace variety.
But the Sandringham gin is the one most closely linked to the Queen because the 20,000 acre estate is her private property.
The Queen is known to be a gin lover and is said to enjoy it as a pre-dinner tipple mixed with Dubonnet.
The Sandringham gin is flavoured with leaves from myrtle plants grown on the estate and exotic Sharon fruit, known as Chinese persimmon, from its walled garden.
Bottles are being sold by the estate’s online store with free shipping in the UK, and will be available at the Sandringham gift shop when it reopens after coronavirus restrictions are lifted.
The limited edition gin was produced by local distillery Whatahoot at its former premises in a barn at Fltcham on the estate before it moved to a new base at nearby King’s Lynn.
The company which was launched nearly three years ago by Jason Crown and his wife Nicky took its name from the large number of wild owls around Sandringham.
The labelling on the bottles, marked with the Crown of the Royal estate, boasts that the Sandringham brand is ‘a full bodied gin with rich juniper tones and a lingering citrus finish’.
The estate has promoted the gin in an email to regular customers of its store, describing it as ‘the perfect gift this Christmas’.
A description of the gin states: ‘The Sharon Fruit is grown in the Walled Garden on a sheltered wall at the end of what was a range of glass houses, built on the winnings of the famous racehorse, Persimmon, owned by King Edward VII.
The Queen is known to be a gin lover and is said to enjoy it as a pre-dinner tipple mixed with Dubonnet
‘The foliage from myrtle plants also grown on the Estate, originated from a cutting taken from Princess Alexandra’s wedding bouquet on her marriage to Prince Albert Edward, who later became King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra.’
The Buckingham Palace gin launched in July and sold in a distinctive clear and turquoise bottle is cheaper than the Sandringham variety, as it costs £40 for a 70cl bottle, although shipping in the UK is £8.50
It is flavoured with a dozen botanicals hand-picked from the 40 acres of gardens at the Palace including lemon verbena, hawthorn berries and mulberry leaves.
The batch of Sandringham Celebration Gin which is priced at £50 for a 50cl bottle was made in a distillery on the estate in north Norfolk (pictured)
The Royal Collection Trust describes it on its online store as ‘the perfect festive drink’ and recommends it to be served with tonic, ice and a slice of lemon.
Prince Charles’ gin inspired by his Gloucestershire home is even cheaper, priced at £34.95 for a 70cl bottle by the Highgrove online store, but with delivery in the UK costing £7.95.
The Highgrove gin which is 40 per cent alcohol is made with rare organic heritage grain grown on Charles’ Home Farm estate and flavoured with lemon verbena, thyme and rosemary picked from his garden.
It is the third brand of the spirit to be marketed by the Royal family, cashing in on the popularity of the drink. Prince Charles recently launched his own organic Highgrove gin (right) just months after the Royal Collection Trust started selling a Buckingham Palace variety (left)
Charles is said to have acted as chief taster, personally sampling a number of different taste profiles, until the perfect one was chosen for it to be made by the Oxford Artisan Distillery.
Profits from his sales go to the Prince of Wales’ Charitable Fund, which supports good causes in areas including education, the environment, social inclusion and health and well-being.
Fortnum & Mason which is also selling the product describes it as a gin with a ‘backbone of juniper and citrus and top notes of lemon verbena, thyme and rosemary’.
The gift shop on the Sandringham estate which will sell the Sandringham gin when it reopens after coronavirus restrictions are lifted. It is currently available to buy online
It adds: ‘Sweet and lingering, the complex herbal botanicals add layers that give the spirit an elegant aroma and flavour. A truly regal creation inspired by The Royal Gardens at Highgrove’.
Charles has long sold products from his estate for charity including honey from his own hives and cloudy organic apple juice made from a blend of old English heritage apples.
He also created the famous Duchy Originals range, which is now sold through Waitrose.
All profits from sales of the Buckinham Palace gin go to the Royal Collection Trust, a charity which maintains and displays the large collection of royal artifacts from artwork to furniture held in trust by the Queen for her heirs and the nation.
Sales of the gin could bring a much needed boost to the Trust as it faces financial difficulties amid the ‘greatest challenge’ in its history.
The trust is seeking voluntary redundancies among its 650 staff and has taken out a £22 million loan after predicting losses of £30 million over the next year because of the closure of its sites during the coronavirus pandemic.
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