The recipe dates to the 1870s, when the Gilbey brothers, two veterans of the Crimean war, whose successful wine/spirits merchant business had thrived throughout the second half of the 19th century, expanded their business to include the eponymous gin (called Gilbey’s since 1895). Distilled from grain neutral spirits, it purportedly contains 12 botanicals. It was so popular that the rights to distill it were sold to the US in the 1930s and it has been distilled domestically since then. Currently the rights are owned by Beam Suntory.
