Explorer’s Gin is inspired by Sir Walter Raleigh, who lived in Downton, as his star rose in court. On 25th March, 1584 he was given a Royal Warrant to explore & settle the New World. The land he called Virginia, in order to flatter Queen Elizabeth I. He established the Roanoke Colony, which became infamous as it disappeared in 1589. He is famed for bringing back both the potato, cedar & tobacco from America.

Our spirits are crafted, distilled & bottled in very small batches at our Nano-distillery which sits on the 'Downs' above Downton in Wiltshire. We are authentic, attentive, proud & care deeply about the quality of our work. Each batch will macerate for up to 48hrs allowing our flavours to blend prior to distillation. We use the one shot method, all bottles are signed & numbered by hand with 100 bottles per run.

Costs have increased for all of us, across the board and we are keen to help where possible. Our bottles are to beautiful to throw away, so we created our bottle for life programme. When you finish your bottle, purchase one of our refill packs which we ship to you free of charge. Then send all the packaging back to us using our 'Free post' service. This is then either reused or recycled. This saves you a huge 37%!

“It’s rare when we see a start-up with massive potential right off the bat. Downton Distillery and their Explorer’s Gin however, has just that and more. They are proving that what’s needed in today’s saturated category is about so much more than being a local gin, a craft distiller, a small batch production or even – having great gin.

"Explorer's Gin harmoniously brings together classic gin characteristics with a contemporary twist. It's a gin with complexity & depth and it is engaging through having clearly identifiable characteristics & stages along the flavour journey."

The winning producers are those which have most successfully shown ongoing commitment to achieving their environmental sustainability objectives across multiple initiatives, with innovative solutions, proven impact and an embedded and measured culture of sustainability. It is at the heart of what they do.