Booth's Gin is a once well-known and widely consumed make of London dry gin, recently reintroduced after years of being unavailable. It was founded by a
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershir ...
branch of the ancient
Booth family
The Booth family was an English American theatrical family of the 19th century. Its most known members were Edwin Booth, one of the leading actors of his day, and John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Abraham Lincoln.
The patriarch was Junius Brut ...
in about 1740.
Booth's Gin was most famously sold in distinctive hexagonal glass bottles. Its paper labelling alluded to the Red Lion
distillery
Distillation, or classical distillation, is the process of separating the components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation, usually inside an apparatus known as a still. Dry distillation is the heat ...
in Clerkenwell where the drink was originally produced, and to the heraldic crest of the Booth family.
Known as the "gentleman's gin", reputedly it was a favourite of both
Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...
, and the
Queen Mother
A queen mother is a former queen, often a queen dowager, who is the mother of the reigning monarch. The term has been used in English since the early 1560s. It arises in hereditary monarchies in Europe and is also used to describe a number of ...
. English novelist and critic Sir
Kingsley Amis
Sir Kingsley William Amis (16 April 1922 – 22 October 1995) was an English novelist, poet, critic, and teacher. He wrote more than 20 novels, six volumes of poetry, a memoir, short stories, radio and television scripts, and works of social and ...
(1922–1995) favoured Booth's as a mixer for pink gin.
The brand, owned by Diageo Spirits, was by the 21st century only produced in the United States and ceased production in 2017. In November 2018, the brand was sold to the
Sazerac Company
Sazerac Company, Inc is a privately held American alcoholic beverage company headquartered in Metairie in the metropolitan area of New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans ( , ,Sir Felix Booth