Distillers & Spirit Producers

Charles Tanqueray & Co.

Charles Tanqueray & Co., Cameronbridge Distillery, Windygates, Leven, Fife, Scotland.

The Tanqueray family were originally silversmiths from France but immigrated to England during the early 1700’s. They settled in Bedfordshire and for three generations were clergymen. A young twenty year-old Charles Tanqueray established a distillery in 1830, in Bloomsbury, London, UK. Tanqueray was obsessed with producing a premium product, and after some research and success, he gained substantial recognition for his gin. It was Charles Tanqueray's innovation to combine his mix of botanicals with a small amount of the neutral grain spirit, redistilling this mixture into a flavor concentrate, which was then distilled again to achieve the rich complexity of the final product.

In 1868 Charles Waugh Tanqueray, at the same age of 20, took over the running of the business when his father died aged 58. In 1898 they merged with Alexander Gordon and Co (to form Tanqueray Gordon & Co.) making it the world’s largest gin company at that time. In 1941 their London Distillery was destroyed in a German bombing raid and the only piece to survive was a copper pot still, called “Old Tom”, now over 200 years old.

They merged with a group of 6 other distillers to form The Distillers Company Ltd (DCL) in 1922. In 1986 Guinness bought DCL, creating United Distillers (UD) a year later. John Tanqueray, the great great-grandson of the founder retired from the business in 1989, being the last remaining member of the family to work with the company. In 1997 UD merged with Grand Metropolitan to create Diageo. All production for Tanqueray Gin was moved from England to Fife in Scotland in 1998. Today Diageo sell in over 180 countries and can truly be said to be a worldwide company.

During the 1950’s and 60’s the US market opened up to Tanqueray, and was enjoyed by such personalities as Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra (apparently his favorite Gin), Sammy Davis Jr. and President Kennedy. During this time sales nearly doubled and was no doubt aided by then new (1948) distinctive green colored bottle shape - designed to look like a 1920’s cocktail shaker (not a 19th century London fire hydrant as some believe) and is the only Gin bottle with a worldwide patent. Tanqueray have and have had a variety of marketing campaigns in the US, some of these slogans include “Ready to Tanqueray?” and “Tonight we Tanqueray.” Even today Tanqueray’s biggest market is the US and imports around 14 million bottles each year to this country.

Tanqueray and Diageo. 

Tanqueray

Tanqueray Malacca

Tanqueray No. Ten

Tanqueray Old Tom

Tanqueray Rangpur