Madrid opens ‘first’ gin micro-distillery

A gin micro-distillery claiming to be Madrid’s first has launched, selling 2,000 bottles in its first two months of operation.

“Madrid’s first” craft gin distillery has sold more than 2,000 bottles of Santamina Gin in its first two months

Santamanía London Dry Gin is a grape-based gin which is distilled in small batches of no more than 330 bottles at a time.

“Gin is so huge in Spain and in particular Madrid, so it was our dream to set up a craft distillery to produce the best Spanish gin possible,” said Javier Domínguez, one of the three founders and current managing director of the distillery.

“We knew that there were many brands already in the market and competition was enormous, but we trusted that by producing fine quality crafted spirits we would make our way through.”

Spain is the world’s third largest market for gin, yet some critics have claimed that growth of the market will slow this year, as less successful brands begin to fall out of the over-saturated market.

However, the creators of Santamanía claim their recent sales show that the Spanish gin market is not saturated “for producers with authenticity”.

“As a craft distillery we cannot expect to be on every supermarket’s shelves, but we will try to reach as many gin lovers as possible,” added Domínguez.