Gin’s biggest names swear oath to protect spirit’s production

The Gin Guild has inducted 25 new members into the organisation, all of whom have pledged to maintain and protect the quality standards of gin.

Seven of the Gin Guild’s latest members swear their oaths

The induction – the third in the organisation’s three-year history – brings the total number of Gin Guild members to over 80.

At a formal ceremony at The Savile Club in London, the 25 new members were “installed” into the guild by “grand rectifier” Christopher Hayman, CEO of Hayman Distillers.

Each new member swore an oath, holding a clutch of juniper berries, to uphold the standards of gin quality around the world.

“Members are good gin people, they have an interest in the trade and will expand the gin market on a global basis,” Hayman said.

“Our main purposes are to encourage excellence in distillation of our own gins, but also to encourage the growth of the gin category around the world. We are UK orientated at the moment, but over the next couple of years we are hoping to become more international.”

New members are nominated to join the guild either by becoming a member as a distillation company, or by being nominated as an individual by existing members.

The 25 new members joining the Gin Guild are:
Jean Battault – Managing director of Societe Anonyme des Etablissements Gabriel Boudier
Martin Dawson – Founder, Broker’s Gin
Michael Kain – Bramley & Gage
Jane Nicol – Edinburgh Gin
Tom Warner – Partner, Warner Edwards
Joanne McKerchar – Diageo Senior Archivist
Julie Brahman – Western Europe Gins Marketing Director at Diageo
Chris Lock – Marketing Director for Vodka, Rum and Gin across Western Europe at Diageo
Claire Battault – Gabrielle Boudier
Jared Brown – Master distiller, Sipsmith, and drinks writer
Andy Dawson – Founder, Broker’s Gin
Sion Edwards – Partner, Warner Edwards
Edward Bramley Kain – Co-founder, Bramley & Gage
Alex Nicol – Edinburgh Gin
Johnny Neill – Creator of Whitney Neill Gin
Nathan O’Neill – Bartending expert
Nick Strangeway – Bartending expert
Thomas Aske – Co-founder, Fluid Movement, the consultancy firm behind Purl and Worship Street Whistling Shop
Alice Lascelles – Hard liquor columnist for The Times, and a regular Sunday Times contributor
Jamie Baxter – Co-owner, 45 West Distillers
Ben Ellefsen –Director, Master of Malt
Allen Gibbons – CEO of IWSC
Matthew Gilpin – Founder of Westmorland Spirits Ltd
Peter Meacock – Owner, Canary Bar in Bath and creator of Bath Gin
Maurizio Fanelli Pratali – Trade Manager for Webb James botanical supplier