Our Story
Spirit of the Rock Distillery opened its doors in April 2019 and launched its first gin, Campion, containing seeds from this rare and unique flower (Silene tomentosa), which only grows in the wild in Gibraltar and nowhere else in the world. We thought it was a fitting name and ingredient for Gibraltar’s first-ever small batch gin, which went on to win ‘Best London Dry Gin’ at the 2020 World Gin Awards.
The Gibraltar Gin Experience grew out of a need to explain how the recent birth of micro distilleries in 2009 had allowed small batch, handcrafted gins to challenge the established big brands. Showcasing historic and modern gin recipes, it was an immediate success with locals and visitors alike, and when linked to Gibraltar’s ancient and recent history, became known as the very best thing to do when visiting the Rock, once you had seen the monkeys.
In 2021 came Candytuft Gin, a New Western Dry named after Gibraltar’s national flower (Iberis gibraltarica). This versatile gin works really well as a long drink with lots of tonic, ice, and any number of garnishes. From then, we have added a Pink gin, four gins through history, a limited edition Governor’s gin, Moon Lizard vodka, and El Mono rum.
February 2022 saw the opening of our shop in the departure lounge of Gibraltar International Airport. Not many, if any, distilleries can boast a location such as this. Feel free to pop in and say hello — and if you haven’t tried our spirits before, come and have a taste.
Our ethos has been to put sustainability and the environment at the forefront of our business and to showcase Gibraltar’s amazing flora and fauna, as well as its heritage; a donation is made to the Gibraltar Ornithological and Natural History Society (GONHS) for every nature gift box and to the Heritage Society for every heritage box sold.
Our packaging is either refillable, returnable, recyclable, or reusable — and often all four. Better still, return an empty 50/70cl bottle to the distillery and get a discount off your next similar-sized purchase. We also recycle our cooling water, saving over 500,000 litres of precious water per year.
We use an e-cargo bike as our company vehicle for local deliveries, collections, and pop-up events, and can highly recommend this means of transport to others.
We love what we do, and we hope you love what we make.
From all the team at Spirit of the Rock.
