Our Story
Our Story
Reviving the Art of Gin
Our story begins in 2016
Tappers is founded on a passion for producing spirits that are authentically made in the way that they’re advertised. We’re an independent family business and we hand-craft our own gin in small batches from our seaside home and Distillery on the Wirral Peninsula, near to the historic cities of Chester and Liverpool.
The quality of our gin is a testament to our principles:
Provenance
We only use natural ingredients and we source our botanicals as locally as possible. All our ingredients are registered vegan.
Small-batch
We produce around 40-100 bottles in every batch of gin - each one with passion and care to make it truly special.
Genuinely artisan
We independently produce our own gin from start to finish and each bottle is individually filled, labelled, wax sealed and numbered by hand.
Let us take you on a journey through time…
…to a world of clandestine parties and secret speakeasies. Our gin presents the rediscovery of a lost style of gin production using a process known as cold-compounding.
We have brought compound gin out of the Prohibition Era and into the 21st Century using artisanal methods and high-quality natural ingredients to deliver spirits that are distinctively complex and full of flavour.
Working to carefully designed botanical recipes, we ensure our spirits retain a deep complexity of aroma and a full flavoured body otherwise lost through distillation. Through delicate filtration, our spirits retain the intensity of their flavour and natural amber hue.
Imitation is the greatest form of flattery…
…but we don’t imitate, we innovate. We've always charted our own course and we let our spirits tell their stories. The botanicals we use reflect our British heritage and the natural world around us. With juniper at the heart of all we do, we’re steadfastly true to the very definition of a British gin. We don’t use artificial colours, flavourings or added sugar.
Our Journey
2016-05-01
Darkside
A year of experiments, trialling of foraged local coastal ingredients, and our signature award-winning Darkside Gin was finally released in May 2016
And then, our journey truly began
2016-10-01
Wintergreen
Drawing on inspiration from nature, the first of our seasonal expressions – Wintergreen Gin – was released in October 2016
2016-12-01
Figgy Pudding
The UK's first and original recipe based on the traditional dessert
Intended to be a single-batch release for Christmas 2016, our Figgy Pudding Gin - the first of our limited-editions - proved so popular we've been releasing it every Christmas since!
2017-03-08
Springfever
An infusion of floral favourites led to the creation of our second seasonal expression, Springfever Gin - first released in March 2017
2017-04-03
Eggcentric
An experiment with indulgent, exotic ingredients led to the creation of our rich, dark chocolate Eggcentric Gin in April 2017 - a limited-edition released in time for Easter every year
2017-05-18
San Francisco World Spirits Competition
On our 1st Anniversary, and with humble expectations, we entered the San Francisco World Spirits Competition
We were honoured to receive a Bronze award for Darkside Gin - recognition of the quality of our gin from international experts
2017-06-30
Three Fine Days
With the sun blazing in June 2017 we released the third in our seasonal line-up – Three Fine Days Gin; a zesty, citrus affair for easy summer drinking
2017-07-31
International Wine & Spirits Competition
Further recognition followed for Darkside, with a highly sought-after Bronze award from the esteemed experts on the IWSC judging panel - confirmation of the superior quality of our gin
2017-09-13
Hydropathic Pudding
With the weather still balmy in September 2017, we welcomed the addition of our fruit cup - Hydropathic Pudding - to the Tappers family
Fresh, British-grown, fruit infused in our gin to the original Victorian recipe for summer fruit pudding
2017-11-01
Falling Leaves
Our fourth and final seasonal expression (and our Founder’s favourite) completed the line-up with a much-anticipated release in November 2017: our Falling Leaves Gin with a hedgerow harvest of autumnal botanicals
2020-02-29
Brightside
We took our cold-compounded Darkside Gin, only this time we distilled the result to the rigorous standards of a London Dry to create Brightside Gin.
Why? Because we agree - there are two sides to every great story. We're the first and only distillery in the UK to produce two distinct gins from the same recipe using different techniques: the Darkside and the Brightside.
2020-09-01
Registered Vegan
In September 2020, in a further display of our commitment to using the finest, all-natural, ingredients, we completed our work with The Vegan Society to recognise and register the entire Tappers range as vegan