Two of a Leamington distiller’s best-selling gins are now even more accessible following their launch of the new ready-to-drink cans range.

Warwickshire Gin Company’s award-winning signature drinks, Leamington On Parade and Philosopher’s Daughter are among the first in the country to offer an authentic gin serving as opposed to ‘flavoured alcohol’ in a can.

The 250ml offering - at 7%ABV and a cost of £4.50 - mark the latest chapter of growth for distiller David Blick who established Warwickshire Gin Company in 2018. David said:

“We’ve chosen our two most popular gins to can which also have quite contrasting flavour profiles. As far as we’re aware there aren’t any other craft drink brands canning their product in this way. It’s just all the big boys, which you can only get in the supermarkets.”

“We want to give people on the move a different way to drink Warwickshire gin, eg. at festivals, picnics, train journeys etc. It makes it easier to drink on the go because you don’t need to carry the bottle or bottle opener or receptacle to pour it in."

“The market is really large for RDTs (ready to drinks) now, although, after lots of our own market research, we’ve noticed the quality is generally quite poor. What makes us unique is that we are making it with proper gin rather than gin-flavoured alcohol as most of the others seem to do. This opens up a totally new way to drink proper gin for new clientele.”

The inspiration behind the drinks collection comes from a desire to capture a moment in history, developing flavours to fully represent the county’s own unique story and bringing the range of hand-crafted flavours to life.

Leamington on Parade is a lightly spiced blend with Ceylon tea, cinnamon and hibiscus and is inspired by Sam Lockhart, the famous elephant trainer, who lived in Leamington Spa from the late 1800's until his death in 1933. In that time he trained and imported several elephants from Ceylon and became the foremost elephant trainer in the world. His most famous troupe were three female elephants Wilhelmina, Trilby and Haddie, known collectively as the Three Graces.

His elephants entertained Queen Victoria and were kept, at times, in Leamington Spa in the 1880s and 1890s when he was home from his various international shows. There are several references to Lockhart's elephants across Leamington.

The Philosopher’s Daughter recipe has been infused with a selection of flavours carefully chosen to honour the daughter of one of the most revered Philosophers of the Elizabethan age, including Rosehip Peel, Rose Petals, Apple and Cherries.

It is inspired by John Dee, one of Queen Elizabeth I’s most trusted advisors – and his daughter Kathrine. Dee was tasked with many requests, which led him to make many discoveries, one of which was the distillation of alcohol. Kathrine would have carefully selected many of the botanicals for her father to fulfil his works, until his death at the age of 81 years.

Elizabeth I encouraged her nobles and courtiers to construct countless ‘Knot Gardens’ in order to equip the alchemists and philosophers with their quests. The most romantic Knot Garden of that time was the ‘privy paradise’ that Robert Dudley created at Kenilworth Castle, for a three-week celebration to court Her Majesty.

Other gins that form the collection are: The Kingmaker, named after Richard Neville 16th Earl of Warwick; Peeping Tom, inspired by the legend of Coventry’s Lady Godiva; Pelota Dry Gin, inspired by Spanish Merchant named Juan Augurio Perera who invented lawn tennis and opened the world’s first Lawn Tennis Club in Leamington in 1873.