Bombay Sapphire

It was 1960, the era of the gin Martini, and American entrepreneur Allan Sorbin was on the lookout for a new English brand to import. He hit on G&J Greenall’s Warrington’s gin G&J Greenall’s Warrington’s gin which he rechristened Bombay Dry Gin. A suitably imperial-looking Queen Victoria was recruited for the front label, together with a date of 1761 when Warrington’s founder, Thomas Dakin, compiled a list of the botanicals.

In 1987 Bombay found itself caught between Beefeater and Tanqueray. “We were in no-man’s land with flat sales and prospects for decline,” recalled Carillon’s CEO, Michel Roux. As the genius behind Absolut vodka in the States, Roux decided to give gin the same premium treatment with a new, blue-bottled brand image inspired by the famous ‘Star of Bombay’ sapphire. No other gin looked like it, or tasted like it.

“Bombay Sapphire made a massive impact and played a major role in leading the entire gin market into a new era,” claims Valerie Brass of Bacardi. She calls Roux a visionary and says that his choice of packaging was “inspired, and reflected the prestigious and exotic qualities of the new gin”. Two new botanicals were added to the original eight of the mother brand, which is described by Bombay’s master distiller, Nik Fordham, as “a hard-core London dry gin”.

“By introducing cubeb berries and grains of paradise you modify the balance,” he explains. “So we’ve just slightly moved from the upfront juniper and citrus notes, and added more luxurious aromas from the West Coast of Africa.” More important is that the botanicals are gently steamed in the spirit vapours off a Carterhead still, rather than steeped in neutral spirit like most London dry gins. As a result the flavours are a little less hardcore and a touch more adaptable for bartenders like London’s cocktail king, Dick Bradsell, who invented the Bramble in the 1990s. For many of his customers it was probably their first taste of tonic-free gin.