About Colombo No. 7 (700 ml)

Country of origin:   England                                 Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 43.1%                                 Bottle size: 700ml 
 
A portrait of Sri Lanka through the eyes of the world’s first Asian gin recipe. Distilled in London to an original and unique Sir Lankan recipe using seven spices and botanicals, Colombo No.7 is a distinctly Sir Lankan take on a Dry London Gin.

Primary Ingredients: juniper berries, coriander seed, angelica and liquorice root. Secondary Ingredients: Sri Lankan cinnamon bark, curry leaves. Tertiary Ingredients: ginger root. 

Tasting notes:
Colombo Gin is a definitive London Dry Gin with an unusual list of ingredients. The juniper is distinctive in taste and aroma; surrounded by a beautiful medley of subtle spice notes, that together create an unexpected harmony. The gin is handcrafted in small batches from copper pot stills to create a distinctively exceptional, distilled London Dry Gin.

Serving suggestions: we suggest drinking as the distiller suggests: as it was served 70 odd years ago: with plenty of ice, a crisp, good quality tonic and … no garnish. If driven to garnish, however, we suggest 3 options: a curry leaf, a twist of lemon rind, or a few pink or black peppercorns.

About Rockland Distillery, in collaboration with Alcohols Ltd: The gin itself is distilled by Alcohols Ltd, so technically the gin isn’t Sri Lankan in terms of place of distillation. The Sir Lankan roots stem from Rockland Distillery, Sri Lanka, where the gin was originally made until the law stepped in. 

In the days of old Ceylon, British Excise Officers did not believe that a good London Gin could be produced outside of the United Kingdom. Despite this, a young Asian distiller pursued the idea of creating a gin in Ceylon’s public gardens. His efforts paid off; new regulations were drafted to allow the manufacture of gin in Colombo; Ceylon Made Foreign Liquor (similarly the ruling was also applied to India and a new regulation called India Made Foreign Liquor was created around the same time). These regulations remain today to allow the manufacture of gin and other non-native spirits.

Given the lack of foreign spices during the war, the distiller’s gin recipe at the time included native ingredients that were easily sourced at Colombo’s Cinnamon Gardens. The only imported spices in the recipe were juniper and angelica root. Once war was over and trade routes reopened, the original mix of ingredients were abandoned in favour of the traditional London dry gin recipe. Today, Colombo Gin has returned to its original wartime recipe, created through a combination of historical events and one man’s passion for a beautiful spice garden.

Colombo Gin is the original, revived.