FIRST JOURNEYS - EUROPEAN EXPEDITION- PIN 07 OF 40
THE HOUSE OF LARIOS - Malaga, Spain
A ROAD TRIP WHERE EVERY STOP HAS A STORY
One of Spain's most recognisable gin brands hides one of its most extraordinary family stories.
I couldn't leave Spain without stopping in Málaga to visit the home of Larios. It may not be the most complex gin on my shelf, but behind the familiar bottle lies a tale of wealth, influence and intrigue that spans more than two centuries.
Larios began life in 1866, when French entrepreneur Charles Lamothe and Spanish businessman Pedro Jiménez founded the Jiménez & Lamothe distillery. Fifty years later, in 1916, the business was acquired by the Third Marquis of Larios and the family name became synonymous with one of Spain's best-known gin brands.
The House of Larios was already one of Andalucía's most powerful dynasties. Their wealth came from shipping, banking, industry, agriculture and property, with branches of the family establishing themselves in both Málaga and neighbouring Gibraltar. Their influence can still be seen today in the elegant Calle Marqués de Larios, Málaga's famous boulevard, built during the city's ambitious nineteenth-century redevelopment and named in honour of the Second Marquis after the family helped finance its construction.
Across the border, the Gibraltar branch became equally influential. One of its best-known members, Pablo Larios, served for decades as Master of the Royal Calpe Hunt. Although the hunt was based in Gibraltar, it relied on access to privately owned estates across southern Spain. Larios's relationships with local landowners became so important that when colonial authorities attempted to reduce his influence in the 1930s, permission to cross many of those estates reportedly disappeared almost overnight. The Hunt descended into political infighting, with supporters divided into rival camps nicknamed the "Godlies" and the "Ungodlies", before Larios was eventually reinstated.
It was an extraordinary demonstration of how influence could be exercised through loyalty rather than official authority.
But the family's most remarkable chapter came much later.
In 2010, a Málaga trumpeter named José Collado claimed he was the illegitimate son of the Fourth Marquis of Larios. Raised in an orphanage, Collado said he only discovered his mother's identity as an adult, and that shortly before her death she revealed the Marquis was his father. As the Marquis had died without recognised children, the claim potentially involved one of Spain's great family fortunes.
A judge ordered the Marquis's remains to be exhumed for DNA testing. The results did not support Collado's claim, but the story refused to end there.
Allegations followed that the remains tested were not those of the Marquis at all, together with speculation surrounding the circumstances of his death. None of these claims have been proven, but they generated years of legal battles, newspaper headlines and public fascination.
The controversy was so extraordinary that it inspired two investigative books: The Poisoned Inheritance of the Marquis de Larios and Assassination, Freemasonry and Francoism – The Poisoned Inheritance of the Larios (Part II).
So while Larios may be one of Spain's most familiar gins, it also carries one of the country's most remarkable family histories—a story of aristocracy, power, politics, disputed inheritance and enduring mystery.
From Málaga’s grand boulevards to a disputed inheritance, Larios proves that every bottle has a story.
Spanish Gin & Tonic
- 50ml Larios Gin
- Crisp tonic water
- Plenty of ice
- Generous squeeze of fresh lime
Simple, refreshing and very much in keeping with the Spanish tradition of the gin-tonica.
"Show me a bottle and I’ll tell you a story."
ATLAS NOTE: Today, Calle Marqués de Larios remains the heart of Málaga. Designed by architect Eduardo Strachan and opened in 1891, it was one of Spain's first great modern shopping streets, linking the old city with the port. Lined with elegant nineteenth-century buildings and sheltered from the Andalusian sun, it hosts everything from Easter processions to the city's spectacular Christmas light displays.
More than a century later, the Larios name is still woven into the fabric of Málaga, not just on a gin bottle, but on one of Spain's most celebrated streets.