Beefeater Gin Seville oranges, whole juniper berries and other natural botanicals for a full 24 hours prior to distillation. This long process allows for a full extraction of flavour from the botanicals, capturing a wide range of volatile oils. The distillation itself takes around eight hours to complete, overseen by master distiller Desmond Payne – with the spirit then taken to Scotland where it is blended and bottled at 40% ABV. 47% ABV is common in the USA. A super premium version of Beefeater was launched in Syon House on 30 October 2009. Beefeater '24' with its additional botanicals of Chinese Green
Gin in popularity by the early 20th century. The invention and development of the column still (1826 and 1831) made the distillation of neutral spirits practical, thus enabling the creation of the "London dry" style that evolved later in the 19th century. In tropical British colonies gin was used to mask the bitter flavour of quinine, which was the only effective anti-malarial compound. Quinine was dissolved in carbonated water to form tonic water; the resulting cocktail is gin and tonic, although modern tonic water contains only a trace of quinine as a flavouring. Gin is a common base spirit for many