MoM: Why did you decide to branch out and create different gin brands in Marylebone London Dry Gin and Berkshire Botanical gin? Drinks are on the pricier side of things, though we’re still dreaming about the (uber) spicy Margarita we downed weeks ago. So, we think they’re worth it. Master of Malt: It seems like you’ve got distilling in your blood. Were you always destined to enter the spirits industry?

With the Berkshire brand, I had a desire to create a local brand that would make gin, but that could evolve to make spirits like vodka and rum. I live in West Berkshire now near the Yattendon Estate, a 9,000-acre estate that’s actually one of the largest Christmas tree growers in the U.K, which was great because I was keen to work with new and local flavours. So for the first batch we did, I was allowed to go out on the estate and chop down some Christmas trees and we used Norway Spruce in the recipe! It’s a dry gin but you’ll get a little bit of extra pine in there on the finish and I think it’s a nice balanced gin. We make it right now in a pot still called Harry, who resides in the wonderful The Royal Oak Pub & Hotel right in the heart of Yattendon. But I’ve got a lease on a bigger premises on the Yattendon Estate at the moment and we’re planning to put a bigger pot still in place so we can really start developing the brand and the range. I’m always trying to work on a couple of new flavours and once we have the larger pot still we can play with some rum and do some ageing and stuff like that. His latest creation, is Marylebone Gin– a deliciously floral and citrus led gin, made in small batches to a pretty healthy 50.2%. Palate: Rolled oats, hazelnut spread, floral honey and chocolate bourbon biscuits initially with grassy malt, lime peel and drying spice. JN: Right now there’s no ambition to create any new brands. If we did do a rum it would be under one of the existing brands. I’d love to do a spiced rum in the Berkshire range. We’ve got stills that are capable of distilling some quality rum so we’ll do some experiments and see what we get. I have stuff ageing on the estate down in Berkshire and in the Marylebone range I’ve got some rum casks from the Foursquare Distillery which are absolutely spectacular, so whether we play with rum casks or we develop a rum, we’ll have to see. For now, I need to focus and make sure that everything’s working smoothly in this difficult period.

Marylebone London Dry Details

MoM: You’ve seen gin go through a boom since you started out. Can the category maintain its momentum?

The finished liquid is then bottled in a stunning creation of vibrant cobalt blue, inspired by fine Bristol glassware from the 18th century. Wine Workshop & Kitchen is a brilliant bar for enjoying a great wine experience paired with excellent food. Despite being relatively new, The Nest can already lay claim to being one of London’s best rooftop bars. In this Georgian era, gin was very much the drink of choice for Londoners – albeit, the spirit was a bit rougher than what we drink today,” he says. “So making a gin really seemed like the natural thing for me to do.”Choose from over 30 wines and pair your grape with modern European delicacies prepared by a Michelin-starred chef. With a spacious private dining room, it’s also the perfect place for an event, celebration, or large get-togethers. The Nest

And then I’ve got a little limited edition I’m doing for the hotel as well. So 108 Bar and Brasserie is part of the Marylebone Hotel where the still is housed, and it’s part of an Irish hotel group called Doyle Collection. So we’ve got an extra Irish botanical going into a new recipe for them, and just 108 bottles will be created. The hotel has an off-licence and the bottles will be sold behind the bar. We hope it will be the first of many batches, but we shall see how we go. In the end, Johnny settled on Pleasure Garden Distilling Company as a name for his venture, and 13 elegant botanicals to go into his flagship gin. These combine to form the refined liquid in the beautiful blue bottle that you unwrapped in this month’s Gin of the Month box. And what a liquid it is. So what did I think of my flirtation with a miniature of Mary Le Bone? A pleasing aroma of chamomile, lemon balm and lime; but with a lingering spicy finish of coriander and cloves balancing sweet orange peel. Cassia bark provides the warmth, which would make this a lovely treat on a cold winter’s day. True to its name, the quirky establishment is foliage-filled and sits nestled (pun intended) atop the Treehouse hotel.As an adult, he moved there himself; he had a mews house just off Montagu Square for nearly a decade, absorbing the atmosphere in the last scrap of central London that still feels like a friendly little village. When it came time to make his own name in the gin world, he looked to his adopted home for inspiration. We’ll probably run her in the mornings for the most part, when the bar is quiet” Johnny laughs. “But the Marylebone Hotel has given Pleasure Gardens Distilling company a home, in what is probably London’s most centrally located distillery. We’re looking to source as much as we can locally, and – most importantly – to have as much fun as we possibly can!” The JJ Whitley range is more about my great grandfather, who was the son of a vicar, so he used to spend a lot of time in vicarage gardens around Cheshire and Lancashire, so we were looking for hedgerow and garden flavours.