I asked an 8th-generation English master distiller to do a London Dry Base,” Barth says. “Then we started to discuss with our olfactory expert how to elevate and add complexity to that base by using botanicals that can’t classically be distilled using the one shot method, where everything is distilled at the same time. That’s why this gin is truly an intercultural collaboration – we try to take the best from each culture and share knowledge.” This was an engraved plate (Fig 3) of a street in St Giles's, London with a coffin on which lies a glass, noggin (a small mug or wooden cup which could hold a dram of alcoholic liquor of about a gill or quarter of a pint measure) and a key, being borne to a burial ground. It is followed by a poorly clad 'Loddy' described below as a 'Beggar well known about St Giles's, Seven Dials etc.', and a procession of publicans. Verses underneath include the lines: Theodore Pictish Gin contains 16 botanicals including pine, lavender, pomelo and bourbon vetiver. As part of the sensory experience we were given each botanical to smell in its purest form, most of them as oils, as though the gin had been deconstructed into its key components. During this we also had a glass of the gin in hand, and it was fascinating to have the botanicals right in front of us as well as the finished product.

Other duties were imposed, but the Vices alluded to in the Act of 1735 continued; the crime rate increased and this, along with poverty and ill-health, was blamed on the consumption of gin. Hogarth, on his own admission, wished to draw attention to various social and moral issues in society. He would have had nothing to gain and much to lose by misrepresentation of facts with regard to these issues. Although his interpretations of the facts might differ from that of other witnesses, they had to be seen to be realistic. By co-ordinating his graphic images with those images provided by his literary contemporaries and in medical writings of the time, it can be seen that they represent a realistic scenario with regard to the prevailing medical scene and to some of the opinions expressed at the time. Hogarth offers a well-informed layman's view of the world of medicine as it impinged on the society that he portrayed. Alcohol abuse is just one example. The first edition of Theodore Gin has been created with guidance from olfactory expert and perfume designer, Barnabé Fillion.whereas great Difficulties and Inconveniences have attended the putting the said Act in Execution, and the same hath not been found effectual to answer the Purposes thereby intended. . . 3 To those Melancholy Sufferers (by a late Severe Act) the DISTILLERS this Plate is most humbly Inscrib'd by a lover of Trade. 12 As he smiles: “We’re not religious people, but there’s something so amazing about finding Ardross, then the farm, then meeting all of these amazing people on the journey. It’s a celestial sequence of events that I find fascinating.” Theodore Gin is named after 16th Century engraver Theodore De Bry, a man most famous for his illustrative work in Les Grands Voyages (aka “The Discovery of America”). He also published the largely identical India Orientalis series, as well as many other illustrated works on a wide range of subjects, including as you might have guessed - the Picts. The Picts were body-painted warriors who existed so long ago that, for the most part, remain a total mystery. While they appear on written records that date from Late Antiquity to the 10th Century, stories passed down from generation to generation have blurred the lines a bit. All we really know, and not even for sure, is that they travelled from as far as Scandinavia to settle in the wilds of Scotland. George, M Dorothy. London Life in the Eighteenth Century, Penguin Harmondsworth, Middlesex, 1925: 56.

Theodore is inspired by the ancient tribe that once settled near the brand’s home in the Northern Highlands. Whereas the Drinking of Spirituous Liquors or Strong Waters is becoming very common, especially amongst the People of lower and Inferior Ranks, the constant and excessive Use whereof tends greatly to the Destruction of their Healths rendying them unfit for useful Labour and Business, Debauching their Morals, and inciting them to perpetrate all manner of Vices. . . 2 Their magnificent body-paint and talent as craftsmen may seem at odds with their alleged fierce nature, but we appreciate this inherent duality. Theodore pays tribute to this dualism with a bold and characterful gin that embodies the Pictish spirit and it is for anyone who is looking to whet a curious appetite.’

We’re really excited to see what the future holds for Theodore Pictish and the rest of Greenwood Distillers’ offerings. They’ve exhibited some truly impressive brand work and imagination at an incredibly early stage, making moves we’d associate with a distillery years into its life. The competition is sponsored by Amorim’s Top Series unit, which specialises in the design, engineering and production of exclusive capsulated cork closures.