JAMESGIFTS

Happy Christmas or Happy Holidays or whatever you prefer.

‘Gifting’ is not a word in English - nevertheless, we’re here to solve all of your ‘gifting’ dilemmas.

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Some of the words not used on this website:

Deconstructed, Artisanal, Mouthfeel, Crafted, Quaffable, Curated, Imbibe, Authentic, Gutsy, Drenched, Piquant, Succulent, Aviation, Heritage.

Chris B

Great aid for skiing

Took a bottle of Asian Parsnip on a recent skiing trip. Greatly enjoyed by all and definitely helps with skiing performance

Theo

The power of the parsnip!

An absolutely fantastic gin! It is extremely flavourful and works very well in a negroni which is one of my favourite cocktails. Would happily buy again and again and again.

Daniel H

An Exemplary Gin

Simply gorgeous, best enjoyed in the company of friends! (or strangers, depending on availability)

Kevin

Thank you!

Thank you for this wonderful gin. I truly feel like I'm having a drink at my local pub in Richmond during a rainy day, and I've never even been to the UK.

Shania

Delicate Flavor

The surprisingly complex taste and texture of this gin was a welcome change. Even though I am primarily a whiskey consumer, appreciated all the delicate flavor and aromas this gin provided that was unlike any other spirit I have ever tasted before.

Amanda

Guiltless Hedonism

My husband and I did not drink gin - now, we drink gin. No tonic desired. Thank you Mr. May for yet another avenue of guiltless hedonism.

Our Story

Many people in many places have helped us in our quest for world domination by gin. Here are some who are willing to admit to their involvement.

September 2020

The Royal Oak, Wiltshire

James bought half a pub in Wiltshire, England. “It seems like a really bad idea on the face of it. The real reason is that it is the only pub within walking distance of our house, and if it closed down I wouldn’t have a pub close by, and country life would be pointless. So, I felt like I had to do it.” Flushed with the success of the pub (it was immediately closed by covid regulations), he thought it might be good to make some gin to serve to the customers, even though there were none.

Wiltshire, May 2021

Hugh is the Willy Wonka of gin flavours (at least we think that’s what the bloke the Transit van shouted). His ‘nano-distillery’ is in Downton, Wiltshire, about half an hour from James’ pub. It is convenient, which almost compensates for its official status as the coldest building in England. Hugh has worked with James to create all of our recipes so far. This has involved a great deal of standing about in thick coats and ‘testing samples’.

Somerset, May 2021

Gus used to run a TV production company, worked with James on his Driving Theory Test app, has an office that was once a cheese loft and knew nothing about selling alcohol, despite a legendary familiarity with it. He was the obvious candidate to help build the gin business. Despite occupation by Gus and his dog, there’s still something faintly cheesy about the operation.

Cornwall, May 2021

Vicky designed the James Gin branding - based on a confused brief about medicine bottles and Haynes Manuals. When she’s not designing stuff, she photographs wildlife, including this extremely rare rainbow sea slug which she found under a rock. She is now much better known for this than for designing our branding.

Northamptonshire, August 2021

Working with a team of eager volunteers (paid in gin) we had no idea how to label the first bottles. Luckily, Mark - who rebuilds very old cars for a living - designed The Labelizer for us. All rights reserved, etc.

August 2021

We decided to make a limited edition of 1,000 litres of Asian Parsnip to see if anyone would buy it. We forgot that the bottles are 700ml, so that meant 1428 numbered bottles for James to sign. These sold within 24 hours so we decided to make some more. James refused to sign any more bottles so the original 1428 are very popular with collectors, especially the ones from the council who take away your recycling bags.

Barbados, March 2022

With interest from around the world, we decided to change our strategy from ‘Make a Few Bottles’ to ‘World Domination by Gin’. Sarah joined us to help build our grown-up websites and digital marketing systems. At the time, she was living on a beach in Barbados but realised she would have to move back to the UK. She chose Manchester, to maintain the hedonistic and sun-drenched existence she was used to.

Sussex and Dubai, March 2022

Lucy and Mattie are our teenage social media and YouTube managers lol. Being absurdly young OMG they understand Instametrics and whatevs, because reasons. Lucy doesn’t like cheese and communicates entirely with the word ‘awesome’. Mattie runs the operation from a beach somewhere in a desert in Dubai wtf.

Florida, May 2022

To quench the apparently insatiable thirst of Americans, we managed to navigate a way through the hilarious US liquor laws and launched James Gin in the US, where it again sold out almost immediately. James Gin is now available in 40 states

Arlington, VA, January 2022

Mick McGuirk -an American customer - wrote: “If you ever decide to release a Navy Strength edition of Asian Parsnip, the world of gin will never be the same”. So we did, and the world of gin is still the same.

May 2022

Thanks Mick.

July 2022

In our quest for World Domination by Gin, and working with distributors in Berlin, we launched the James Gin Global website once our papers were in order. James Gin is now available in 41 countries in addition to the UK and US.

Kent, July 2022

Seb helped us to make American Mustard at his distillery in Kent. This involved processing tonnes of real dill pickles and the finest French mustard seed, for which he had to invent the world’s first pickle and mustard gin filtration facility (patent pending).

November 2022

All was going well until the TTB (just one of many obscure US liquor compliance authorities) decided that we couldn’t call American Mustard Gin ‘American Mustard’ because customers might be misled into thinking it was, er, mustard, and put it on their hot dogs. So we decided on an anagram to make it all perfectly clear. In retrospect, ‘Ramstud’ actually sounds more American. It will also be the name of a forthcoming GM pick-up. 

Essex, May 2023

Matt used to work with Diageo and Hayman’s Gin - so he actually knows about this business…which is frankly a relief. He’s now working with us to build our retail and wholesale distribution in the UK.

*Although he is dashing, this is not actually Matt.

Wales, July 2023

Paul used to run a hotel and thought it might be fun to make some gin - an idea that sounds faintly familiar. He makes and bottles London Drizzle. He also sometimes does work for another gin business based in the US and run by a Canadian pretending to be an American, called Bryan.

October 2023

“Thank you for this wonderful gin. I truly feel like I'm having a drink at my local pub in Richmond during a rainy day, and I've never even been to the UK." Kevin

We’ve Bagged Some Awards

We’ve won some awards for our gin and we’re very proud of them.We’ve even collected some at an awards ceremony where we drunk a great deal and listened, dumbstruck, to a Four Tops tribute band.But how to display our awards, since trophy cabinets are as tasteless as Aviation Gin? We decided to recycle James’ soon-to-be-retired man bag. Uniquely tasteful, globally inspired and hand-crafted. Like our gin.

EPISODE 1

Our First Experiment

Ever since I was given some as a baby, I've been fascinated by the taste of gin. Watch how we made our very own.

View more episodes

FAQ

Here are some of the questions that people ask us all the time and we can't be bothered to answer by email.