Village Spirit Collective community

Karen Neville

Food & Recipes, Godalming, Haslemere, Round and About

Village spirit is alive and well in Hambledon where under the guidance of Ian Cox, the Village Spirit Collective offers two locally inspired gins – Vann Lane Gin and Haslemere Gin

There’s nothing like an artisan gin. They all have their own unique flavour, often with strong connections to where they are distilled and that’s certainly the case for those from the Village Spirit Collective.

The collective gathers local ’ginfluencers®’ to assist in the development by contributing to the flavour profiles giving the spirit a true ‘community spirit’.

The expanding range includes Vann Lane Gin, a contemporary London Dry with citrus and spice botanicals, Haslemere Gin, a lighter elderflower and lemon gin, limited edition seasonal specials such as Summer Spirit and Winter Spirit and gin liqueurs (such as Raspberry Gin Liqueur and Toffee Apple Gin Liqueur.

Based near the village of Hambledon in the Old Coal Yard, Vann Lane Gin reflects the character of the village earning its name from the road that runs through the village. When coming up with the name, the ginfluencers wanted to convey that it was a “quintessentially idyllic English village, complete with cricket green, country pub and summer fete, yet at the same time was quirky and unexpected”. Classic juniper gives way to warm coriander and sweet orange, fresh kaffir lime and unexpected notes of cardamom and cubeb pepper. Traditional but contemporary, just like the village.

Haslemere ginfluencers explored 20 botanicals and combinations to create the flavour of Haslemere Gin Community Spirit which blends classic juniper with coriander, lemon, elderflower, ginger, cubeb pepper, liquorice and cassia.

The Village Spirit Collective is owned and run by Ian Cox, who left a city job to enjoy a better life-work balance. Ian produces everything himself by hand in his micro-batch distillery – from crushing the botanicals and distilling to labelling and distribution.

“We use a vapour infusion process in our micro-distillery which features a bespoke state of the art copper column still,” says Ian. “This method of gin production is certainly not the fastest but we believe it results in more subtle and nuanced flavours.”

With Christmas looming why not try the Vann Lane Winter Spirit with the seasonal flavours of ginger, cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg – Christmas in a glass!

All gins come beautifully packaged with gift sets available and monthly gin subscription plans (a great gift idea for the gin lover in your family). Or how about a distillery experience? Learn about distillation and create your very own gin! Try 20 different botanicals, rate them and combine your favourites to blend your perfect gin and tonic. You can even purchase a bottle to take home. Look out for them at Petworth Christmas Cracker on December 7th too.

Find out more and shop for gifts (and yourself) at Village Spirit Collective | Gin | Experiences | Bar

Village spirit is alive and well in Hambledon where under the guidance of Ian Cox, the Village Spirit Collective offers two locally inspired gins – Vann Lane Gin and Haslemere Gin

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