Spring is here! And to celebrate, the joys of the new season, we have sent our Craft Gin Club members an incredible, exclusive handcrafted gin their March 2020 Gin of the Month box.
March 2020’s Craft Gin Club Gin of the Month:
Ludlow Elderflower, Chamomile and Lemon Verbena Gin No. 5
* Exclusive to Craft Gin Club members *
42% ABV
Botanicals:
Juniper, Coriander, Angelica Root, Orris Root, Chamomile, Elderflower, Lemon Verbena, Lemon.
Tasting Notes
Classic and timeless; juniper-led and super smooth, with a just a touch of citrus from the coriander and lemon peel. Subtle spring floral notes abound - orris, elderflower, chamomile and lemon verbena combine in a light and refreshing bouquet that conjures up the spring meadows of the Welsh Marches.
Meet the Distillers behind our Gin of the Month
The Ludlow Gin team
Shaun Ward has been working his whole life towards becoming a gin distiller. From the moment his mother took him to a carol service in Bristol, where he heard classical music for the first time, he was on a path of beauty and craft.
After singing in the church choir, he headed to university to learn the art of playing the organ – but it was as much an education in gin as music. And his career as an organist, playing in some of the oldest and most beautiful cathedrals in the country, has given him the perfect mind set for a natural career change into the world of gin distillation.
“Being a musician has been a big part of my success as a distiller. They’re both about creating something beautiful and timeless; I think of gin distilling as simply orchestrating different flavours.”
”Did you know that it takes 15,000 hours to become proficient on any instrument? Musicians and distillers are both used to long, dedicated work – striving for perfection.”
An Ear for Music and a Taste for Gin
With his trademark moustache, beard and expansive smile, Shaun’s brilliant presence belies the struggle, sorrow and happy coincidences that brought him to where he is today.
Shaun lost his father when he was just one year old, and his mother had little money for fancy activities and after-school lessons. But his childhood in Bristol was a very happy one, and it was his mother’s spur-of-the-moment decision to take him to a carol service at a local church that would change the course of his life. “I have no idea why she even took me there. I’m very lucky – it led to endless opportunities: music, historic buildings and now gin, “ says Shaun.
Shaun fell instantly in love with the music he heard that day – complex, emotive and precise, full of reverence and wonder. He started singing in the church choir aged seven, then played the organ. It was the organ that got him into university on a scholarship, where he mixed with other young musicians just as gin was making a re-emergence in the UK.
“I first drank gin at university in the late nineties. It was the drink of choice with the musicians I hung around with – there was seemingly endless gin drinking!”
Sean still finds time to play.
But gin wasn’t the only thing that Shaun fell in love with at university. He also met Peter, his beloved husband, and together they moved to Herefordshire to pursue their dreams of being organists. Peter still works as the assistant director of music at Hereford Cathedral, while Shaun had the honour of being director of music in Ludlow’s famous parish church, one of the UK’s biggest foodie destinations.
Nestled in the Welsh Marches, where three counties collide, Ludlow was once the seat of the Prince of Wales. As a royal outpost, it was a hub for all kinds of incredible flavours – spices imported from distant climes, the best produce England had to offer and the finest chefs shipped in to prepare it.
Today, that foodie culture has persevered. But Shaun loved Ludlow for another reason. Since that first carol service so long ago, he’d had a passion for ancient buildings and crumbling cathedrals. With more than 500 listed buildings, Ludlow is one of the UK’s most beautiful historic towns. It was the perfect place for Shaun to launch another career, working with an architecture practice to restore old buildings like the many cathedrals in which he has performed.
The stunning Welsh Marches
But there was another dream blossoming in Shaun’s mind. He was spending every day surrounded by beauty and craftsmanship, from the music he played and the buildings he restored to the bread he bought and the hills he walked. Why wasn’t there a gin that paid tribute to the beautiful place he called home?
It all came together one festive period. First, Shaun’s sister-in-law – seemingly out of the blue – mentioned that she reckoned Shaun would make a great distiller. Then a New Year’s Day run through the wilds of Cornwall took him past another gin distillery. It felt like a sign.
“I literally had a Eureka moment. I thought: I can make Ludlow gin.”
And so he started reading, researching and speaking to other people who had launched craft gin brands. Then, after his license had arrived, he settled in with his stove top still, and the gin making began.
“I experimented every evening after work, learning flavours, analysing successful runs and conducting endless experiments," Shaun tells us. "Out came this stuff that smelled like gin. I was too terrified to drink it, so I left it in the pantry for two weeks. But I did call Peter who was working in Belgium to tell him!”
Shaun set to work refining it, and a few months later his flagship gin Ludlow Dry was born.
That spirit, as Shaun would come to find, was just the start of a journey.
Gin tasting is a serious business at the Ludlow distillery!
Graft and Great Instincts
It was important to Shaun that everything about his new gin brand – which he called Wardington’s Original Ludlow Gin after the town that inspired it – be as carefully crafted as the liquid.
“I didn’t want to make a gin using a computer-controlled still. I wanted to do it using my senses and my skills.”
The same went for his label, which is hand-printed by David Lewis at Cherry Press, an artisan in the Cotswolds. The area is one of Shaun and Peter’s favourite day off haunts.
But how did he wind up calling his gin ‘Wardington’s Original’? It’s a play on Ward, his last name, and the marmalade-loving Paddington Bear. “I was known on site by two builders as ‘Wardington Bear’. The name stuck! And yes, like my namesake, I love marmalade.”
The flagship Ludlow Gin is as juniper-forward as it gets and its traditional flavour palate and exquisite construction made it a hit with gin lovers across the country.
It has since been joined in the Ludlow Gin range by other siblings. They’re made by a tight-knit team consisting of Shaun himself, assistant distiller Finn and John who looks after deliveries in the three counties; as well as an amazing extended family of creatives, doing everything from printing to designing the striking labels to taking beautiful pictures of Ludlow Gin cocktails.
“Our focus is on the quality of the product,” says Sean. “We’re all grafters, we’re hungry for excellence and we always have a good fun while were doing it.”
The combination of hard graft and great instincts has led Ludlow Gin to go farther than Shaun ever thought possible.
With four gins and two liqueurs on the go, it’s full steam ahead for the team at Ludlow Gin. But in some ways, Shaun has surprised himself with his own success. “I thought I would make 60 bottles a week as a hobby. 18 months later, I’ve just made many thousands in recent weeks.”
Some of those thousands, of course, consisted of the beautiful gin that Shaun has created for Craft Gin Club members – a spirit which capture the blue skies and green countryside of the UK.
Blue Sky Thinking
The botanicals ready for distilling.
When it became clear that Craft Gin Club members would be unwrapping his special edition gin in March, Shaun knew that he wanted to create a seasonal spirit.
“I’m a passionate person, and the new gin needed to be born of the same tradition as our others: juniper-led, handcrafted, with natural botanicals that told a story.”
But what story would that be? All his ruminations kept bringing him back to a few traditional spring flavours, and he followed his heart.
Elderflower and chamomile, with their floral profiles, seemed like a perfect fit for a spring gin. But there was an element missing, and Shaun wouldn’t be rushed into choosing anything but the perfect piece to complete the puzzle. “I like ideas to develop naturally. My colleagues think I’m mad sometimes, but I won’t be rushed, it’s simple.”
Then, at a local country show at Malvern, Shaun discovered the botanical he had been missing. From his Ludlow Gin stand, he was close enough to the demonstration stage to hear the guest speakers give their presentations. A number of them kept mentioning lemon verbena; at the end of the show, Shaun introduced himself to one of the presenters and asked what was so special about lemon verbena.
One taste and he totally understood. With its rounded, green flavour and uncanny hint of lemon – a perfect complement to the elderflower and chamomile Shaun had already started experimenting with – lemon verbena proved to be the unique touch that made this special edition of Ludlow Gin such a winner.
Ludlow Elderflower, Chamomile and Lemon Verbena gin is electric in the glass, with all the vibrant optimism of a spring day.
“It’s a drink to be shared and enjoyed with friends.”
Hand labelling our members’ Ludlow Elderflower, Chamomile and Lemon Verbena Gin!
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