Dr. Anne Brock spends her days nosing and tasting fresh-from-the-still gin while surrounded by stunning architecture and peaceful greenery. As the Master Distiller at Bombay Sapphire, she’s responsible for the quality and flavour that goes into every drop (literally) of the beloved premium gin that makes its way into the brand’s iconic blue bottle. The famed gin dates back to 1761 and is now produced at the picturesque Laverstoke Mill in Laverstoke, England. The charming, yet design-forward, facility opened for business in 2014 when the brand relocated its operations from northern England.
There aren’t many Master Distillers in the world, let alone female ones. In fact, fewer than 8% of the world’s distilleries are owned or operated by women. With her expertise in organic chemistry from the University of Oxford, however, Brock has transformed gin production at Laverstoke Mill since 2017, prioritizing sustainability. Under her leadership, the distillery has impressively achieved zero-waste-to-landfill status, with botanical by-products powering ten homes annually. Brock was recognized as Master Distiller of the Year in the Icons of Gin 2021 Awards and inducted into the Gin Hall of Fame in 2023.
In most recent news – and just in time for summertime cocktails – Brock and Bombay Sapphire launched the limited edition contemporary gin, Bombay Sapphire Sunset. Brock was in Toronto for the occasion, where we caught up with her to hear more about her craft and the new, easy-drinking, sustainably made gin.
A blending of two passions
Brock says she didn’t have a traditional career path. “I certainly never thought about being a distiller until I was in my late 20s early 30s,” she says. “I actually wanted to be a medical doctor. So, I worked to get into medical school for most of my teenage years, with work experience and opportunities to put on my application. I did all my sciences. I went to med school at the age of 18, but within seven months, I dropped out. I absolutely hated it. So, that was a big change and I became a bartender for four years.”
Brock then switched gears, going back to university, this time with a focus on chemistry. “I did a PhD in organic chemistry and it was at the end of my PhD when I made the transition into the distilling world,” says Brock. “A friend suggested it, and it was like a ‘lightbulb moment;’ it was a way for the two sides of my life – the scientist and the bartender – to come together. So, that was a great opportunity for me and I went and worked for a new small craft brand in central London.”
Here, Brock was essentially hired to build the distillery and its operations. “It was an awesome opportunity to learn something like that from scratch,” says Brock. A few years later, Bombay Sapphire came knocking on her door. “When a brand like Bombay Sapphire asks if you want to work for them, you leave at the chance [to do so],” says Brock. “You didn’t say no, so I made the move over in September 2017 and have been with the company ever since.”
A hands-on, human touch
When Brock first stepped into Laverstoke Mill, she admits she was nervous. “I wasn’t nervous about my craft, because I know how to make gin,” she says of her first days on the job. “I was more nervous about working for such a big company and navigating that. But I think that what impressed me the most was, although we’re a global brand, there’s actually only 12 distillers on my team. So, the number of hands that go into making every bottle of Bombay Sapphire is actually quite small.”
The natural flavours of Bombay’s beloved botanicals are captured through a delicate distillation process called vapour infusion that dates back to 1831, explains Brock. Instead of being boiled in the still like most gins, the botanicals are meticulously layered in perforated baskets and held in the air above the spirits during distillation. As the heated spirit vapours rise, they’re gently infused with all the rich aromatic flavours of the botanicals. Brock says that vapour infusion produces a fresher expression of the botanicals in the gin compared to traditional methods of gin production.Indeed, the most impressive takeaway from a 2023 visit to Laverstoke Mill was how incredibly hands-on the entire distillation process is at Bombay Sapphire. “People tend to think that large brands are very automated,” says Brock. “But all of our botanicals get laid in baskets in the still and put in the still by hand by my distillers. No matter how technical you can make a quality laboratory, there’s nothing more sensitive than the human nose and taste. So, every batch of Bombay is nosed and tasted by myself and my team.”
Best of botanicals
At the core of Bombay Sapphire’s quality are the famed botanicals used in its creation. What makes Bombay particularly unique is that the brand relies on the expertise of a famed Master of Botanicals. Allesandro Garneri, and his team in Geneva sources all of Bombay’s 10 core botanicals – juniper, lemon peel, grains of paradise, coriander, cubeb berries, orris root, almonds, cassia bark, licorice, and angelica – from around the world.
“The care, craft, and passion that goes into the selection of botanicals and the very detailed process behind the spirit monitoring and creation was beyond that I think I’d expected, and that for me really resonated because that’s what I wanted,” says Brock. “I wanted to work for a brand where people really cared what they were doing and they were really making sure they were making the best gin that they could. That’s the Bombay team.”
Brock highlights that many spirit brands will rely on third-party players and have their procurement teams work with them. But Bombay Sapphire has a dedicated team of Botanical Specialists who work directly with the farmers and the growers.
“We have a really unique relationship with our suppliers, which has led to some incredible things, like us being able to say that 100% of the botanicals in Bombay Sapphire are sustainably sourced,” says Brock. “It also gives us a level of confidence, knowledge, and insight into each harvest of the botanicals. You know where they’re harvested and where they’re coming from and can get the heads up, for example, if there’s a particularly rainy summer in Tuscany and they’re a bit worried about the juniper. With this insight, we can ensure that we have everything we need to handle that and can still make Bombay Sapphire at the same quality every year. I think that’s what makes us truly unique from a botanical perspective.”
Blazing a trail for women in spirits
While the distillation industry may be one that’s typically male-dominated, Brock says it was a welcoming space to enter as a female – perhaps thanks to the fact that she was such an anomaly. “In some ways, being a woman in the industry has really benefited me, because there were such few women in the space when I entered it,” says Brock. “So, I stuck out like a sore thumb, which actually offered opportunities. One of the things I found was this industry as a whole is incredibly welcoming, no matter who you are.”
Brock also found insight in the mentorship of others in the business. “When I started the craft distillery, I had really famous gin distillers, at the end of a phone line always willing to help,” says Brock. “Even now, if I have a question or issue in Bombay, I’ll reach out to Charles Maxwell at Thames Distillers or Christopher Heyman [distiller and Gin Guild chairman] and ask their opinion and they’re always ready to help.”
That doesn’t mean the journey hasn’t been without its challenges, however. “I think the challenge has actually been more on the technical contractor side in the distillery,” says Brock. “My team is great and Bacardi [Bombay Sapphire’s parent company] has created a great place for women to work, but it’s when we get visitors onsite who assume that the guys who report to me are my bosses. It’s just a case of correcting them and, to be honest, the person who feels most awkward in that situation is the one who made the mistake. You can see the awkward look on their face, but I haven’t generally had an issue at all.”
Brock tries to encourage other women to enter the industry. “There’s a lot of younger women out there who are interested in becoming master distillers and I get many of them contacting me on Instagram or sort of waiting to talk to me at events,” says Brock. “I always make sure I take the time to talk to them and say that they can reach out at any moment because I think that’s really important that they feel supported as they enter and navigate the world themselves.”
A sunset for summer
The new Bombay Sapphire Sunset is an aromatic gin infused with warming spices and bittersweet Spanish mandarin, crafted to capture “the mellow heat and orange glow of the setting sun,” according to the brand. With a higher ABV of 43%, the gin combines vibrant Indian white cardamom, turmeric, and sun-dried Murcian mandarin for a refreshing taste.
“Sunset is a product that I really enjoyed making but also enjoy drinking,” says Brock. “I think the great thing about gin as a category is, as long as you have your juniper in there, you can do anything you like with botanicals. This means you have the ability to have spicy gins, floral gins, citrus gins, classic gins, or very juniper-forward gins and with Bombay Sapphire, we have a beautifully balanced gin. Not a single one of the botanicals competes with the other and it’s a well-rounded experience.”
So, Brock says the challenge is keeping something that’s true to Bombay Sapphire, but building on it to achieve a new desired outcome. “In the case of Sunset, we wanted to create a slightly
bolder, spicier gin,” says Brock. “We get some really unique flavour notes from our citrus peel. So, working with citrus is always really fun for us, and so are mandarins. I’ve always loved the smell of mandarin on the nose, and then to balance that out with cardamom and turmeric was a challenge to try and keep that flavour profile that we expect from Bombay Sapphire.”
According to Bombay Sapphire, the spirit is best enjoyed at sundown with a tonic and an orange wheel. But Brock says it also works in a variety of cocktails.
“I actually had it last night in a French 75 for the first time and it was delicious,” says Brock. “It’s almost mimosa-ish because the orange really shines through with the sugar and the Prosecco. So, that was delicious. I always really appreciate it in a Negroni as well because that boldness really holds up well to the bitters and the vermouth.”
It’s safe to say countless gin enthusiasts will also savour the new gin this summer. “One of the best parts of the job is the ability to ensure that I’m making Bombay Sapphire to the highest quality, knowing that someone somewhere is really going to sit down and enjoy that product at the end of the day – it gives me a lot of joy,” says Brock. “I would also be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy the fact that I get to come to a place like Toronto and visit these accounts. I did an amazing rooftop tour of Toronto last night. Seeing some incredible bartenders using your product is an unexplainable feeling that never goes away.”
