A converted bike shed in Port Eynon, on the Gower peninsula, houses the micro-distillery where The Gower Gin Company makes GŴYR, its original London Dry Gin. Siân and Andrew Brooks launched the company in 2017, and GŴYR, the Welsh name for Gower, remains the base on which several of the other gins of the house are built.

The recipe uses eight botanicals on a grain base spirit, including juniper, bronze fennel, green fennel, lemon zest and pink grapefruit zest. The botanicals macerate for almost two days before a slow distillation in Arianwen, a 200-litre pot still whose Welsh name means Silver Spirit, and each run produces up to 300 bottles. Bottled at 43% ABV, the gin also forms the base of Rhamanta, the rose and pomegranate version of the range. The same shed produces Pinwydd, with foraged pine tips, and Rhosili, with gorse flowers and sea buckthorn.

Fennel is the signature of GŴYR. Green fennel brings a fresh, gently aniseed note, while bronze fennel, a variety with coppery leaves, tends to be softer and more aromatic; together they add a herbal line between the resinous juniper and the citrus. Lemon zest keeps the top bright and pink grapefruit zest adds a fragrant, slightly bitter edge, so the gin stays crisp and dry rather than sweet.

Recognition has followed: GŴYR won Gold and Best Welsh London Dry when the World Gin Awards were judged in 2024, and the company was voted Industry Choice Distillery by the Gin Guide Awards in 2022. Visitors can taste it in the gin garden at Port Eynon, which welcomes small groups. Over a light tonic, the fennel stays precise, and a twist of pink grapefruit zest echoes the citrus of the recipe while leaving the herbal notes in front.