About us
History
Cabin Pressure Spirits are husband and wife, David and Emily, and our small team of heroic helpers. David started producing gin in the garden shed (aka ‘The Cabin’) in 2016, using a tiny self-designed vacuum still. The humble location and low pressure distillation approach inspired the company name - Cabin Pressure Spirits. Our first product, a signature vacuum-distilled gin, was launched in Spring 2017.
Summer 2018 saw the release of our first collaborative product - Leonardslee Botanical Garden Gin. Working with Chef Jean Delport of the Michelin-starred Restaurant Interlude, we created a floral gin in celebration of the blooms at Leonardslee Gardens. Excitingly, this summer also saw the creation of Chococo’s spectacular Cabin Pressure gin chocolates!
A further collaboration was launched in autumn 2019 - Horsham Serpent Gin. This aromatic offering was developed with the founders of Crates Local Produce, local legends Marion and PJ, who were enthusiastic supporters of Cabin Pressure from the start. Following shortly afterwards, we went slightly off-piste, releasing our delectable Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur made from beans from the Horsham Coffee Roaster.
The Cabin was returned to its original, lawnmower-housing purpose early 2020, when the distillery was moved to a larger premises in the town. More space meant that we were able to increase the capacity of the vacuum still to meet increasing demand.
We kept ourselves busy during the pandemic by working on our new flagship product, with Horsham Spirit Gin released just in time for Christmas 2020. The launch was accompanied by the start of our Horsham Spirit Charity Scheme, which supports local charities with a donation for every bottle sold. Further lockdown projects released in summer 2021 in the form of two seasonal gins made with local fruit - Loxwood Sloe Gin and South Down Rhubarb Gin.
Most recently, a collaboration with our friends at Kissingate Brewery was launched in spring 2022 - an unusual Black Cherry Gin featuring the fennel-like flavour of brewer’s hops.
So now you’re up to date! Keep an eye on our Facebook and Instagram to be the first to hear about what’s coming next…
Vacuum distillation
OK science fans, let’s start with a quick lesson in distillation! At its simplest, distillation involves evaporating a liquid into a vapour, then cooling it down again so that it condenses back into a liquid for collection. In the case of gin, the process starts with alcohol that has been infused with flavour-giving botanicals. This often bright green and rather unappealing liquid is evaporated into vapour, leaving the solid botanicals and accompanying gunk behind. The vapour is then condensed and collected as lovely clear, flavoursome gin.
Most distilleries use large copper or steel stills, where the botanical-infused alcohol is heated to high temperatures to achieve evaporation. Vacuum distillation, however, is usually carried out using a glass still attached to a pump. The pump reduces the internal pressure so that the botanical-infused alcohol will evaporate at a much lower temperature (around 40°C in our set-up).
We decided to produce our gins using vacuum distillation as we find that the gentle, low temperature approach extracts the botanical flavours with particular clarity (think of boiling vegetables for hours versus a gentle steam…) Another benefit of this method is the smoothness of the resulting spirits - you’ll get no unpleasant burn from our gins!
the horsham spirit
We love our hometown and being part of the lively food and drink scene of the area. All of our gins are distilled at our premises in Horsham, with each bottle wax sealed and labelled by hand in 'The Cabin'. We regularly appear at local markets and events where we’d be delighted to meet you for tasters and a chat. You can find out more about our upcoming events on our Facebook page.
We have enjoyed collaborating with other local producers and venues on a number of our products, including Chef Jean at the Michelin-starred Restaurant Interlude (Leonardslee Lakes and Gardens), Kissingate Brewery, Crates Local Produce, the Horsham Coffee Roaster and even chocolate house Chococo, who make delectable Cabin Pressure Gin chocolates!
Alongside our line of permanent products, we regularly release limited edition products that make the most of seasonal local produce. Recent examples include our Loxwood Meadow Sloe Gin and our South Downs Rhubarb Gin. You can find more information about our product range here.
To give a little back to the community, we make a donation to our district’s charities for every bottle of Horsham Spirit Gin sold. Recipients so far include the Horsham Community Responders, Horsham Matters, and St Catherine’s Hospice. You can find out more and suggest your favourite charity here.
artwork
The colourful artwork for our Horsham Spirit Gin, featuring Horsham’s beautiful Causeway, was created by our very own multi-talented Emily. She also created the similarly-styled artwork for our Loxwood Meadow Sloe Gin and painted the artwork for our Horsham Serpent Gin, which depicts the legend of our local dragon! It is said that Horsham’s dragon was slain by St Leonard, a hermit living in the forest during the 6th century. Lily of the valley are said to grow where his blood fell during the battle. As reward, St Leonard called for snakes to be banished and nightingales silenced, so as not to disturb his prayer. A thousand years passed until a “strange and monstrous serpent” was seen again in the forest… Look out for all these details on the bottle!
