Spitfire Heritage Gin celebrates lady pilots of the ATA

A new small batch, single estate gin from the 2015 world champion gin maker will launch in the UK in late spring under the Spitfire Heritage brand.

 Brought to market by a team led by the founder of The Spitfire Heritage Trust, the gin is already finding favour with leading quality retailers.

The new spirit is one of only three single estate gins distilled in the UK. The spirit is a fusion of juniper, two types of orange, almonds and borage (for courage) alongside coriander, rosemary (for remembrance), star anise and rose petals.

Spitfire Heritage Gin, a beautiful and authentic 1930s botanical gin, celebrates the young lady pilots of the ATA who kept Britain’s airbases supplied with Spitfires, often dodging predatory German Messerschmitts in the process.  These women flew unarmed, in dangerous skies – and were known to carry a snifter of gin as part of their kit.

Setting new precedents

Together with his entrepreneur-wife Sarah and the couple’s business partner Denise France, Ian Hewitt sits at the helm of Spitfire Heritage Gin.

He said: “The Spitfire is much more than a vintage aircraft. It is a Great British icon that symbolises the coming together of all the Nations of the Commonwealth in defence of our common human values and freedoms that transcend culture, religion and gender: our freedom to live and love and drink GIN with whomsoever we choose.”

In the hands of master distiller John Walters (voted distiller of the best gin in the world 2015 – and best rum actually) this small batch, single estate botanical gin, crafted in Cambridgeshire, ascends into a class of its own.

Wine Rack’s Head of Retail Operations, Haydn Hicks said: “A fantastic product and a great story that sells itself within the British psyche. An iconic brand that I believe will set new precedents in the industry.”