Native juniper berries drive Lebanese gin boom

5.11.2018

Lebanese gin is of the highest quality and is very estimated throughout the world. The source of its quality: the country’s botanical richness and the enthusiasm of a small and dedicated groupof entrepreneurs.

Main botanical plant used to flavor gin, juniper grows naturally in the country’s higher terrain. For Maya Khattar, one of the two founders of the Rechmaya distillery, it is the juniper’s discovery was at the genesis of her motivation to distill gin. To carry out her plan, she renovated her family’s silk factory and settled on the banks of the Chouf with her husband, Chadi Naccour. Their gin is the expression’s field of their creativity. Result: a gin made with Lebanese juniper and eight other plants.

During a visit to London, Jamil Haddad, the founder of Colonel Brewery, noticed the boom in spirit’s consumption and judged that Lebanon should be producing its own.He sometime soondoes nothesitate to diversify.

He was not the only one to have the idea. Three months later, three Lebanese distillers – The Three Brothers, Rechmaya and Colonel – also brought out their gins.

Don’t drink and drive. Enjoy responsibly