Highclere Castle Gin Review

Made world famous as the location for the Downton Abbey movie and TV series, the English stately home of Highclere Castle has now gone into gin-making… and it’s seriously good.

Described as a super-premium gin, it would be very easy to assume that Highclere Castle is cashing in on its celebrity and connection with Downton Abbey, knowing that the link will help sell the gin to fans of the show. But it’s an assumption I’m sure the castle’s owners, the 8th Earl and Countess of Carnarvon, were well aware that people might make. They therefore had to produce something special, to maintain their reputation and the connections with the classy TV series and movie.

Highclere Castle

The present castle was built in the 19th century though its history goes back way earlier than that. The land on which its stands has been owned by the Bishops of Winchester since the 9th century, and today comprises over 5,000 acres. There was at first a house on the site, which was replaced by a palace, and this was rebuilt as Highclere Place House in 1679, and it has been owned by the Earls of Carnarvon ever since that date.

Highclere Castle Gin Botanicals

Many of the botanicals come from Highclere Castle’s Herb Garden, which was first planted back in the 9th century by the Bishops of Winchester. These include, very unusually, oats, which have been grown on the Highclere estate since at least the 13th century.

There’s also lime flower, lavender, and orange peel in there. The lavender comes from the castle’s Monks’ Garden, and note that it’s lime flower, and not lime: the flowers come from Highclere’s lime trees. The non-Highclere botanicals include cardamom, angelica, and cassia bark, which you can’t grow in southern England.

Highclere Castle Gin Bottle

The bottle oozes class, style, and elegance. It’s everything you would associate with the world depicted in Downton Abbey. It’s deep purple in colour, purple being the colour traditionally associated with royalty, wealth, and power. It’s tall and tapers gently, its shape reflecting the main tower at Highclere Castle, which was designed by architect Sir Charles Barry. The glass bottle itself is designed and made in England.

Highclere Castle Gin Review

My sample of Highclere Castle Gin arrived a few days before Thanksgiving, and as some of the friends we’d invited were huge Downton Abbey fans it was a chance to do a ‘vox pop’ tasting. I made several simple gin and tonics, ice and lemon, and awaited the response. The response was unanimous. Everyone absolutely loved it, definitely several notches above the average gin and tonic. I used a Q Tonic, by the way, as a classy gin deserves a quality tonic, not something cheap off the supermarket shelves.

A day or two later it was time to do the real test and sample the gin neat. I had to do it quickly as there was a danger the whole bottle would disappear in a succession of G&Ts, they tasted so good. On the nose it has a totally fresh aroma, with plenty of juniper and lemony citrus, with a dash of spice. It was the freshness that was most striking, though, and why it clearly went so well with a zingy fresh tonic.

This all came through on the palate as well, though the lemon steps forward while the juniper steps back just a little. There are some added liquorice and floral notes too. The finish was smooth as could be, almost creamy, with those last lingering citrus flavours. Highclere Castle says that the creamy finish is partly due to that unusual addition of oats to the botanicals.

Gin isn’t my favourite spirit to drink neat, it was designed to go with tonic and in other cocktails, but this Highclere Castle Gin is definitely an exception. Pour it over one or two small ice cubes and sip away.