Icelandic Gin Wins International Award

A compound Icelandic gin made right here on our island has won a coveted accololade at the 2019 World Gin Awards, edging out more traditional competition.

Vísir reports that Old Tom Gin, from Himbrimi, came out on top in the category of Best Compound Gin last Thursday at the awards ceremony in London.

For the unfamiliar, compound gins, like distilled gins, add botanicals (including but not limited to the mandatory juniper berries) to the mixture, but while distilled gins add this flavouring before distillation, compounds will add it afterwards.

“This is a hugely significant recognition for us,” Óskar Ericsson, who produces Old Tom and is the director of Brunnur Distillery Ehf., told reporters. “To compete in Britain with an Icelandic gin is like competing in Japan with Icelandic sushi or in Scotland with Icelandic whisky.”

Old Tom is available for sale in Iceland, entering the market in 2016, and has also been distributed to the US and Europe, Britain included.

You can read more about alcohol in Iceland here.