Reverend Hubert Winter Gin Liqueur - 50cl, 27% ABV | Premium Alcoholic Drink Made with Natural Real Fruit | A Gin Liqueur Handmade in the UK | Perfect with Prosecco | Ideal for Gifts & Parties

Product Information

Tom: Good question because I have no idea about spirits. I’ve never worked in booze. I’ve had various jobs in the past, some incredibly brilliant and amazing and some less so good. This came about because I love having dinner parties. I always like people at the end of a dinner party to stay for an extra couple of hours to make sure, since we’re all together, that we make the most out of hanging out. Susan: You just have to ask. People can always say no, but you just have to ask. Sometimes it works out with you and Fortnum Mason, how fabulous. So, they’ve got it in a glass case. It says Reverend Hubert Winter Gin Liqueur, come on and get it. How did it do? As well as Master of Malt they have forged close ties with Whisky Exchange, Cambridge Wine, Fortnum & Mason, Noel Young Wines, and most recently, Marks and Spencer, amongst others. Susan: Exactly. It was the Negroni that was heard around the world. Now I always leave my guests asking them one question, which is, if you could be drinking anything anywhere right now, where would that be? And what would it be?

TASTING NOTES: Our gold award-winning Winter Gin Liqueur is distinctive, original, balanced, & smooth. Bursting with aromatic notes of dried fruit, winter spices from Sri Lanka and the freshest orange & lemon zest from the Amalfi coast.

OUR STORY: Originally made in the vicarage in 1904 by Reverend Hubert Bell Lester for his congregation’s Christmas party; the recipe has been recreated and improved by his great-grandson Thomas. Susan: All right. So, after your six months, you have something that you think is fantastic. What was your idea going forward after that time? Then he had a brilliant idea. Why not put his passion for gin to good use by creating a high-quality gin-based drink to help bring together his diverse community, as well as others, to buy and enjoy which could in turn raise money? All of this took place in October 2019 when it was too late to actually get into trade to hit the winter spirits and liqueur market. We moved into a new house and I had a cherry tree in the garden and It was so bountiful and beautiful and amazing. I mean, I’m living in London, right? This is a rare find and I started messing around with the cherries and I was making cherry brandy and cherry liqueur and cherry jello, whatever you want to call it.

He certainly was not looking to make his life any easier, but such was his determination to get as close to his ancestor’s original recipe it meant going the extra mile to get the ingredients just right. Tom: Yeah. Yeah. I think they’re called something or other. And so, ‘Where do they come from? What oil are they covered in?’ And I mean, I kind of opened a can of worms a bit didn’t I, but we had six months of, at first awesome fun testing out whether it was vodka or gin and a bit of lemon and a bit of star anise. Was the Sri Lankan cinnamon better than the Indian cinnamon? Susan: Were you like, oh my God, I can’t believe that a relative of mine was making a spirit and I’m making the same spirit practically? The brief was very much to bring out the cheeky, glint in his eye, friendly, warm personality of Reverend Hubert. Look closely and you can see a halo around only half his head, to signify he was a man of cloth, but who also knew how to have a good time at the same time. The Reverend Hubert Bell Lester (1868 -1929) was a charming and caring man who also enjoyed a good party, and in 1904 produced a popular winter gin liqueur that he shared amongst army comrades and the congregation of his local church in Nottinghamshire.Tom: I suddenly thought this is absolutely remarkable. When that kind of stuff came together, there was no question that my ambition to make this happen became more and I was super keen to get Hubert out there, Hubert Bell, which I think is quite a cool name and to see what happened. Tom: I was doing that as well, and I think he was a big fan of Stanley, who doesn’t like Stanley, a legend! I think it amalgamates them together and it creates a kind of nice, a little bit of white foam on the top, which visually appealing. He’s the man, he’s doing it. Yeah. Good. It tasted all right. It was nice. So, the Christmas pudding comes out and I’ll bring it to the table and it’s lit and then we’re all doing shots. And that was when a couple of friends of mine who are not mad on liqueurs decided that this was quite good. And so, I went out to refine it, to try and make it into something better.

Susan: So, it’s a liqueur why did you decide liqueur versus liquor? Making it sweet? Making it not sweet. So much so that he now has a 10% stake in the business and is committed to hand peeling Amalfi oranges and lemons for large parts of the year. They may not be a mainstay on your bar trolley throughout the year, but as soon as November (...who are we kidding, October) arrives and Bublé makes his long-awaited return, we make a break for the festive liqueurs. Susan: So, you got the label, you got the bottle, it’s a great looking bottle and you’re making it, by the way. Where do you make it? The other stand out feature about Reverend Hubert is its distinctive label. One that immediately looks familiar and somehow iconic, even though it’s the first time you have seen it.Tom: The label came about because I read articles about him. During one of the wars, the Belgian refugees came to England and he was at the time based near Nottingham. They shifted them away from London as, as they did. One of the things that he did, which just remained in my mind was to go round, no one had any money or anything, but he used to collect eggs.

Whilst the gin category might be fit for bursting, the sight of a winter gin liqueur is rare indeed which makes the story behind the Reverend Hubert even more fascinating. If you are sitting comfortably then let me begin… I think by the time we left the restaurant in the early hours or the late hours of the evening, I think then, we thought there could be something, but it’s all very well and good saying. Right. Okay. We’ve got something. What do we do next? What happened next was pivotal. I got introduced to Fairfax from Sipsmith who very kindly gave me two hours. His gin drinks were of course a roaring success and eventually became Keighley’s worst kept secret. We even ground our own spices. It was an incredible number of man hours, and we are still learning how to make it now, still adjusting and adapting.”I managed to get every single person their bottles the last bottle I delivered by hand on Christmas Day morning. So, it went absolutely crazy. I can’t say I enjoyed the two weeks of darkness in the farm in the Cotswolds, because that was hard work at -5, but we got there in the end. Each year he would update the recipe based on whichever country he happened to be stationed – be it for his country, or his religious calling. Susan: So, you’re at dinner with your aunt and she says, here’s a flask. And you said, whose flask is this? I never knew. I wish I had known him Susan: That that’s amazing. That’s such an amazing story. So, now a couple of years later, how has it been for you to be the owner of a spirit company? Susan: I’m so excited to have you here. It was so great to meet you last year. I’ve wanted to have you on the show for so long. And now of course, winter is here and since you make a winter liqueur, it was time. Where did this idea even come from?