Gordon's is a brand of gin produced in the United Kingdom and under license in New Zealand and several other former British territories, with the top markets for Gordon's being Great Britain, the US, Greece and Africa. It is owned by the multi-national alcohol company Diageo Plc. It was developed in London in 1769 by a Scot, Alexander Gordon, who had opened a distillery in Clerkenwell. The Special London Dry Gin he developed proved extremely successful, and its recipe remains unchanged to this day. Triple-distilled, the gin contains juniper, coriander seeds, angelica root and other botanicals. Gordon's Gin is unique in that it holds the Royal Warrant for gin. The recipe for Gordon's is known to only 12 people in the world and has been kept a secret for 200 years. In the UK, Gordon's is sold in a distinctive green glass bottle; in all other markets it is sold in a clear bottle which is sometimes made of plastic, depending on the size; in addition one is able to obtain Gordon's at higher proofs in the UK than are available in other markets. The formulation has changed over the years; in the 1950s it was of significantly higher proof. In addition to the main product line, Gordon's also produce a sloe gin, an aromatic gin known as Distiller's Cut, a vodka, two alcopop variants, Space and Spark, and a canned, pre-mixed gin and tonic. Additionally discontinued products include:
- Gordon's special Old Tom Gin
- Shaker Cocktails (pre-mixed) Piccadilly, Perfect, Fifty-Fifty, Dry Martini, Martini, Bronx & Manhattan
- Finest Old Jamaica Rum
- Orange Bitters (made from Seville Oranges)
- Orange Gin
- Lemon Gin
Cultural references
It is featured in the James Bond book and film Casino Royale as part of the Vesper. "Gordon's Gin" is the title of a song on the Human League's second album, Travelogue. The track is an instrumental. The Paul Butterfield Blues Band refers to the drink in their version of "Drunk Again": "Well I'm drunk again/ I've been drinking Gordon Gin." The artists Gilbert & George were inspired by and produced several pieces of art based around Gordon's Gin. One was a short film entitled 'Gordon's Makes Us Drunk'. In John Huston's The African Queen (1951), Gordon's was the brand of choice for Charlie Allnut, the hard-drinking riverboat captain, played by Humphrey Bogart. The Gordon's label is clearly shown in a pivotal scene in which Katharine Hepburn's tee-totaling character, Rose Sayer, tosses crates of the beverage into the river. The appearance of Gordon's Gin in The African Queen is frequently cited as one of the first examples of movie product placement. The boar's head on the Gordon's Gin label has been the official insignia for the U.S. Navy Red Rippers fighter squadron since the 1930's. Official permission to use the boar's head by the Rippers was granted by the president of Gordon's in 1956.
