Small distilleries, created by groups of enthusiasts, provide the market with spirits completely different from those we are used to. Products thanks to which it turns out that not everything has been invented yet. You could answere the question: “which gin from a small distillery should I choose?” with another question: “have you ever met a drunken horse?”.

We are three friends (Benoît, Tom and Pieter-Jan) who have a micro-distillery in Belgium, nearby Antwerp which is called Gentlemen’s Craft. Here we produce our multi-award-winning gin: The Drunken Horse Gin.

Our story starts like this: Benoît has two foodtrucks and one night, after a big night out, we were sitting in Tom’s garden and saw an old horse trailer. We thought: “Let’s make a bar from that horse trailer which will go perfectly with the foodtrucks”. We called it The Drunken Horse Bar.

As we produce all vegetables for the foodtrucks ourselves on a small farm, we decided to do the same with the bar and make all drinks ourselves. We started with a gin. We went to Portobello Road in London and learned the basics to distil a London Dry Gin.

Back home we decided to do everything ourselves and we start to look for a kettle. We met a Dutch guy who had built his own kettle. He thought: “Why is everybody distilling with kettles that have the same technology as 200-300 years ago. I will try to improve the system.” We heard him out and decided to buy his kettle.

We started our search for the perfect mix of botanicals. We wanted a citric orientated gin, so we started with peels of pink grapefruit, lime and lemongrass. We created a citric gin, which was super smooth and tasty, but it was not that special. It needed something more, more depth, more flavour, more complexity. So, we went to look for peppers. On the hillsides of the Himalayas, the Nepalese side, we found a pepper which would change our gin and our lives: The Timut pepper. This wonderful pepper has hints of grapefruit, passionfruit, jasmine etc. It was the perfect pepper for our gin. We added 2 other peppers and created a gin with 12 botanicals.

We served this gin to our customers and some of them are experts in gin (at that moment, we were not). They told us we had created a super smooth, citric, and complex gin with 3 flavour waves. They told us that we should participate to competitions. We sent our bottle to San Francisco, Hong Kong and Stuttgart and we won several golden and double golden medals. So, we decided to visit Michelin star restaurants and high-end cocktail bars. The sommeliers and mixologists were amazed about the quality and started to buy our gin. From that point on, we were in the gin business. It has been an incredible adventure and the best is yet to come.

Info about the flavour profile of The Drunken Horse Gin

The gin with a touch of the Himalayas

The Drunken Horse Gin is a London Dry Gin made in our micro-distillery called Gentlemen’s Craft. It has 3 flavour waves.

First wave: Citrus

Coming from the freshly peeled zests of grapefruit, lime and lemongrass.

Second wave: Earth

A soft feeling in the middle of the tongue thanks to the cardamom and coriander.

Third wave: Spicy

The third wave is spicy thanks to the collection of 3 peppers from which the Nepalese Timut pepper is the most outspoken. As this rare pepper has citric notes, the third wave will bring you back to the first, citric, wave.

Info about THE limited-edition Vermouth: Vermut con Timut

“When the Tramuntana meets the Himalaya”
A collaboration between The Drunken Horse Gin and Jaume de Puntiro

With Pieter-Jan, one of the owners of DH, living in Mallorca, we have started experimenting with the many beautiful products that this Balearic Island has to offer.

We decided to create a Vermouth in collaboration with Pere Calafat, the wine maker/owner of the bodega Jaume de Puntiro in Santa Maria. We used the local Giro Ros grape to create an orange wine which is the base of our Vermouth and combined it with many botanicals the Tramuntana mountains has to offer like oranges and lemons from Sollér, cinnamon, star anis, fennel, salvia, wormwood etc etc. and the Timut pepper from the Himalayas, the hero ingredient of The Drunken Horse Gin.

The result? A surprising combo of citric, sweet and spice. A fresh vermouth with a complex and surprising body, just as our gin…. You can drink it on the rocks with a slice of orange or grapefruit or make your own Negroni, Dry Martini, Manhattan or Rob Roy.

The art on the label is made by our friend Igor Morski, a surrealistic artist from Poland. Check all his art here…

Drunken Horse Gin