THE GIN PASSPORT ATLAS - DISTILLERY STORY- PINNED ON THE MAP - UK/ EUROPE
DECLARATION GIN, Wales, UK
Declaration Gin began around a kitchen table rather than a boardroom, with a group of friends discussing what their own gin might look and taste like. One of those friends was Michael Vaughan, former England cricket captain, whose involvement gives the brand its celebrity connection but also provides the central idea behind the recipe.
The gin was designed to reflect some of the countries that had meant the most to Vaughan during his cricket career.
The three standout botanicals tell the story: Darjeeling tea from India, ginger from Australia and liquorice root from Yorkshire. Rather than simply choosing exotic ingredients because they sounded impressive on a label, each was tied to somewhere Vaughan had played or spent memorable time. The result was intended to be a dry, premium gin that could stand on its own rather than becoming a piece of cricket merchandise in a bottle.
Declaration launched in November 2019, with Vaughan involved as co-founder alongside the wider Declaration Drinks team. They wanted to create the recipe themselves rather than simply hand a brief to a large producer, eventually finding In the Welsh Wind Distillery in Ceredigion. The team spent a day there recipe-testing and tweaking the botanicals before settling on the final blend, which continues to be distilled and bottled there. bottle.
The cricket references are subtle enough that you don't need to be a fan of the sport to appreciate the gin, although the bottle's name is hard to miss.
Declaration also has a nice piece of cricket wordplay running through the branding — Vaughan's “Time to Declare” is both a familiar cricket phrase and an invitation to declare it gin o'clock.
The gin has picked up some useful recognition along the way, including Gold at The Gin Masters in 2021. The relationship with In the Welsh Wind also produced some interesting extensions, including a Palo Cortado cask-aged version that took the cricket-inspired brand well beyond its original London Dry.
There is something quite fitting about Declaration being made in West Wales.
Michael Vaughan may have built his reputation on cricket pitches around the world, but the finished gin is very much a collaboration between those international memories and a small Welsh distillery.
It is a celebrity gin, certainly, but the interesting part is what the celebrity actually brought to the recipe rather than simply whose name appears on the bottle.
"Time to Declare"
Show me a bottle
and I'll tell you a story.
