The gin that’s now available in mince pie flavour

It is not often that I find myself sipping gin in a garage in Ravenscourt Park at 10 in the morning…

It is not often that I find myself sipping gin in a garage in Ravenscourt Park in west London at 10 in the morning, but it is not every day that a new spirits company sets up shop in London. The converted garage houses a rather beautiful pot still called Prudence: flowing from Prudence’s elegant, copper curves are two rather fine distillates, Sipsmith vodka and Sipsmith gin.

The vodka is everything a vodka should be – smooth, with a pleasantly sweet warmth on the palate – but my preference is for the gin, which features 10 top-quality “botanicals” and is brought down to bottling strength with the addition of water from Lydwell spring in the Cotswolds, one of the sources of the Thames.

More unusually, Sipsmith has also produced a mince-pie-flavoured gin, available exclusively for £9.75 as a festive martini from the bar at the Oxo Tower in London: and yes, it really does smell very strongly of mince pies.

Fact Box:

Sipsmith gin and vodka, around £30 for 70cl, from www.sipsmith.com. Also from Fortnum & Mason (gin only), 181 Piccadilly, London W1 (020-7734 8040; fortnumandmason.com); Harvey Nichols, 109-125 Knightsbridge, London SW1 (020-7235 5000; www.harveynichols.com); and Selfridges, 400 Oxford Street, London W1 (0800-123 4000; www.selfridges.com).