Since 1863, pioneers of the craft gin movement, when overlarge explorer beards were normal and gin was first immensely popular. In fact it was the Burroughs family - now the Haymans - who came up with the Beefeater recipe and many of their subsequent iterations had names and heritage that closely linked them with London.

However, unlike a lot of self-styled craft gin producers Haymans are distillers first and always have been. Their stills - named Marjorie, Karin and Miranda after members of the family - now live back in central London in Arthur Smith country of deepest Balham after a period of exile on the fringes and those stills are the beating heart of the operation. The quality of the spirit they produce is superb, with almost unrivalled texture at anything like the price.

Their choice and sourcing of botanicals is traditional and wide and includes juniper from Macedonia, Coriander from Bulgaria, Angelica from Belgium and other spices from Uzbekistan, Madagascar and Indonesia. They`ve recreated the widespread trade routes that existed 160 years ago when they began. (CW07/10/19)