A Dream Job

DESMOND Payne has want many spirit drinkers consider to be one of the dream jobs.  He is the Master Distiller for Beefeater London Dry Gin and the proud, jealous guardian of James Burrough’s original recipe of 1863.

Single-handedly, he selects all the natural ingredients for this world renowned drink and created Beefeater 24, a premier brand.  He also creates and discourses gin-based cocktails with trendy bartenders.

Among the many ingredients, that Desmond procures are the juniper berries, that give gin its distinctive taste, angelica, coriander seeds, liquorice, lemon and orange peel and almonds.

Juniper berry are an effective defence against both bladder and kidney diseases and were once believed to combat the plague with juniper based elixirs first being produced during the 14th Century.

William of Orange and his followers first introduced gin to Britain in 1688 and changed the country’s drinking habits for ever.

By the mid 18th Century, lashings of cheap gin had began to affect the nation’s health.  New legislation and licences started to control the quality and the quantity of the drink.

“We steep the ingredients for 24 hours in grain alcohol before they’re fixed into the gin,” said Desmond.  “We don’t use the first run or the end of the run (it tends to get a little stewed by then).  We only take out the middle of the run to bottle.  We do lose about 7% by doing it this way.”

Beefeater directors allowed Desmond a free hand in creating Beefeater 24.  He experimented with various recipes, including Chinese green tea, before producing the first bottles.  He is proud that it is his own recipe, rather then having to press on producing gin to someone else’s all the time.

Beefeater Gin is still produced near the Oval Cricket Ground, making it the world’s only true London Dry Gin.