Hendrick’s intros Orbium brand extension
William Grant & Sons has launched Orbium, a "quininated gin" designed to encapsulate "what Hendrick’s might taste like in a parallel universe".
Created by Hendrick's master distiller Lesley Gracie, the new expression features the same distillates with additional extracts of quinine, wormwood and blue lotus blossom. The result is a "complex" gin with floral and bitter notes, 'surprising brightness" and an "uncommonly long" finish. Orbium derives from the word 'orb' – the plural of Orbis and Latin for circle – and is said to represent the "spherical round taste" that Gracie refers to when describing Hendrick’s house style. The gin is presented in a blue apothecary-style bottle and features an 'all-seeing eye' on the label. The launch of Orbium marks the first time one of Gracie's gin innovations has been made available to bartenders beyond sample quantities. In 2014, she undertook an expedition to the Venezuelan rainforest in search of botanicals, subsequently launching limited edition Kanaracuni Gin. Orbium is initially available in select bars across the UK, with a first release of 4,000 bottles.
