Review

Brennan & Brown
Colonial Gin

Brennan & Brown Ltd, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England, UK.

Brennan & Brown.

Enthusiast Rich Bamber sought but was unable to find a Gin containing ginger, flavored to his liking. He discovered Gordon’s had made a ginger infused Gin but had stopped producing it around a century ago and so in 2010 he decided to try and make his own. This is not for the faint hearted and it took over two years including training and licensing, not to mention a year of “hard” research to create the recipe (with the help of a rotary vacuum still at Master of Malt in Kent) and setting up the business entity of Brennan & Brown Ltd with his partner Jo Hazlett.

Their first Gin (with a hint of ginger) was launched in the fall of 2013 and this colonial version Gin was launched in late 2014.

We have no confirmed details for the production of this Gin, however we assume it is produced in the same way as their first Gin: The base spirit made by an undisclosed third party in Birmingham, probably Langley Distillery. This base spirit is used with fresh local botanicals (wherever possible) and distilled with a rotary vacuum evaporator by Brennan & Brown. The resultant Gin is diluted with Wenlock Spring Water from Shropshire – a naturally filtered water from 400 million year old limestone, with a unique mineral composition and slightly sweet taste. 

The Gin is presented in a tall clear bottle with rounded shoulders. It has a large rectangular label colored black with gold trim. At the top is their clock face logo and name in white with black outlining.

London Dry Gin.

Unknown.

$$$$. Not available in the USA but can be purchased online from Brennan & Brown but it is unclear if they ship outside of the UK.

Undisclosed but includes juniper berries.

With the tagline “There’s always time for Gin” Rich Bamber named the company using the maiden names of his grandmothers, who we understand both enjoyed a tipple from time to time.

The term "colonial" refers to the days when England ruled India, known as the "British Raj", and drank Gin & Tonic.

Unfortunately we have yet to try this Gin and have no details with regard to it flavor or aroma.

Unknown.