Top Rated London Dry Gins

Sacred Gin is produced in a micro-distillery in North London. (Not hyperbole. It's distilled in a family home.) Rather than using a traditional pot-still for production, vacuum-distillation is used which requires a far lower temperature. 12 botanicals are used including juniper, cardamom, citrus, nutmeg, and boswellia Sacra (aka frankincense), hence the name of gin. Nine other gins along with vermouth and other apéritifs are produced here as well.

Distilled at the Thames Distillery in London, Fords Gin is the final product resulting from the partnership between master distiller Charles Maxwell and Simon Ford of the 86 Co., a New York based spirits company. Using a neutral grain spirit made from English wheat, this gin has nine botanicals - juniper, coriander seed, lemon peel, bitter orange peel, grapefruit peel, angelica, cassia, jasmine and orris - which are steeped in the stills before being distilled with the base spirit.

Hernö Distillery is located in Dala, Sweden near the eastern coast. It is made in a one-shot method and only adds water which they source from their own well to bring the gin down to 40.5% ABV. They use 8 botanicals, all of which are certified organic and include fresh lemon peel which they peel by hand, lingonberries, meadowsweet, and black pepper. Note: This is not currently available in the U.S., but can be found in many European countries.

Released first in global travel retail in 2015, Star of Bombay London Dry Gin has since expanded its availability around the world, but is not currently available in the U.S. It uses the same general ten botanicals as Bombay Sapphire, but employs different varieties of coriander and angelica along with three different types of juniper berries. Additionally, it adds bergamot and ambrette seed to the recipe. It is named after the Star of Bombay, a 182-carat sapphire from Sri Lanka which was gifted to silent film star, Mary Pickford, by her second husband, Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. She bequeathed the jewel to the Smithsonian upon her death in 1979 and it now resides in the National Museum of Natural History.

Released in 2013, Diplôme Dry Gin is made with a recipe originally created in 1945 at the end of World War II. The gin soon became the official gin of American Army troops stationed throughout Europe. Distilled in the city of Dijon, this gin is made with eight botanicals: juniper berries, coriander, whole lemons, orange peel, angelica, saffron, iris root, and fennel seed. The botanicals are macerated in a beetroot spirit before being distilled and bottled at 44% ABV.

Cotswolds macerates juniper, coriander and angelica root for 12 hours in a 100% wheat-based neutral spirit. An additional botanical mix with less traditional ingredients like lavender, bay leaf and black pepper is then added to the distillation via vapor-infusion in their bespoke pot-still. The gin is brought down to proof with water from the Cotswolds in south-central England and bottled at 46% ABV. This is a review of the batch 2/2015.

Created for spirits merchants Berry Bros. & Rudd in London by a Dutch distillery, production of this London Dry Gin is overseen by Dr. David Clutton. Six botanicals go into its distillation--juniper, orange peel, grapefruit peel, angelica root, coriander seed, and cardamom--which is distilled in a direct-fire pot-still after steeping overnight in a neutral grain spirit.

Opihr [o-peer] uses botanicals such as cubeb berries, Tellicherry black peppers, cumin seeds, cardamom, and ginger among others to highlight Asian flavors. This London Dry Gin is distilled at G & J Distillers in northwest England. It was launched in 2013 by Quintessential Brands and is now available in the U.S.

Portobello Road No. 171 is the address of Portobello Star, a cocktail bar in Notting Hill. It is also the address where this gin was conceived. On the second floor of the bar resides a Ginstitute, a gin museum and educational center where guests are educated in all things gin. Jake Burger (bartender) and Ged Feltham (proprietor) spent nine months experimenting before the settling on a recipe. Their gin is made from a base of English wheat neutral spirit and 9 botanicals including juniper, orris root, coriander, licorice root, and nutmeg. It is distilled to their specs at the Thames Distillery in London and is then prepared for bottling with additional neutral spirit and water. It is bottled at 42% ABV.

Beefeater is a London Dry Gin that is actually produced in London; the distillery is located in Kennington just south of the River Thames. It is made from a neutral grain spirit base to which nine botanicals are added and steeped for 24 hours. These botanicals include, in addition to the juniper, coriander seeds, licorice root, citrus peel, and bitter almond. This is then redistilled and reduced to strength with softened water. This 47% ABV is their export strength version. The Beefeater name was chosen as to be something quintessentially London; the Beefeaters, as the Yeomen Warders are called, have been guarding the Tower of London since 1485 and adorn the bottles.