Henstone London Dry Gin

The name Henstone joins two family homes: The Hen and Chickens, a former pub where Chris and Alexandra Toller lived, and Stone House, home of the original partners. The Tollers founded the distillery in Oswestry, Shropshire, in 2017, started making gin in February 2018 and, after a restructure in 2023, moved production to Dingle Farm at Trewern, where a 1,000-litre Kothe still from Germany, called Hilda, does the work.

Citrus · Dry · Spicy

Henstone London Dry GinLondon DryA style, not a place of origin: every flavour comes from distilling natural botanicals. After distillation only water and a trace of sugar may be added, with no flavouring or colouring.GlossarySee London Dry gins is made with traditional botanicals and bottled at 44.9% ABV. It is so rich in botanical oils that it may loucheUnfiltered ginThe essential oils of the peels and plants stay in the gin: when chilled or mixed with tonic they turn it slightly cloudy, like pastis (the "louche" effect).Glossary, turning slightly cloudy when very cold or mixed with ice or tonic. The distillery explains that this is a natural reaction: the haze shows how much aromatic oil the gin carries rather than any fault.

Its record is long. The Gin Guide Awards crowned it in the Traditional Gin over 42% category in 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025, and it earned Double Gold and Best of Class at San Francisco's World Spirits Competition in 2021, a Gold and later a Silver from the London Spirits Competition, two stars at the Great Taste Awards 2019 and a Best in Britain title in 2020. In 2026 it was again among the winners, the year Henstone took the Distillery of the Year title for the third time, after 2020 and 2023.

The distillery recommends it over ice with a chunk of orange and a good quality Indian tonicIndian tonicThe classic tonic: sparkling water, bitter quinine and sugar. The name recalls colonial India, where quinine warded off malaria.Glossary, and it also makes a strong base for classic cocktails. The orange suits the oily texture and brings out the citrus side of the botanicals, while the strength keeps the gin present when it is stirred with vermouthVermouthAn aromatised, fortified wine flavoured with herbs and barks; its name comes from the German Wermut, wormwood. Dry vermouth goes into a Martini, sweet red into a Negroni.Glossary. Henstone offers tours of the farm distillery, and the range goes beyond gin to rum and English single malt whisky.