5 Intriguing Things to Know About Hendrick’s Cabinet of Curiosities Gin

Gin is one of the most exciting spirit categories, full stop. In many ways, it offers distillers the most potential for experimentation, since the only meaningful requirement toward putting “gin” on the label is the presence of juniper. (Proof being the only other requirement.) Juniper is what characterizes gin as gin, but from there any other botanicals may be invited to the party, resulting in a growing selection of worldwide gins whose botanical profiles express a distinct sense of place or point of view.

Along with this trend, Hendrick’s has staked a claim in the experimental gin field, a treat not only for Hendrick’s devotees but for gin aficionados at large, with its ongoing, limited-release series known as the Cabinet of Curiosities. (Despite its kind of macabre/goth/mad scientist name, its origin story has much purer associations.) We spoke with Erik Andersson,Hendricks East Coast Ambassador, who gave me an insider peek into the intention of Hendrick’s Master Distiller, Lesley Gracie, and her point of view with this limited-release lineup.

1. The First Cabinet of Curiosities Release Began with a Wedding

Many good stories begin with a wedding, and so too is the case with Hendrick’s first release in the Cabinet of Curiosities lineup: Midsummer Solstice. Andersson explains its origin story, “Lesley Gracie and (former) Global Brand Ambassador Duncan McRae had a very close relationship and had worked together on R&D for a lot of projects. So when he was getting married, she said she’d bring a case of gin to the wedding. She wanted to give it some local context, and he’d been working in Scotland developing botanicals from flowers that bloom in the summer, which coincided with the timing of his wedding, so she made like 6 bottles of ‘Midsummer Solstice,’ and that was supposed to be it, or so they thought. (Down the line) somebody suggested the idea of doing seasonal Hendrick’s releases, so they decided to produce and release Midsummer Solstice in 2019, and it became the third biggest selling super premium gin in the world in under a year.” (Original Hendricks holds the #1 spot.)

2. There Have Been 3 Cabinet of Curiosities Releases So Far

Since the unprecedented success of Midsummer Solstice, whose tagline is “In celebration of the eternal mysteries of the midsummer solstice,” the idea of periodic, seasonal releases under the “Cabinet of Curiosities” umbrella was born. After a period of development, Midsummer Solstice was followed up in 2021 with Lunar, (the first to technically bear “Cabinet of Curiosities” on its label,) and in 2022 with Neptunia. As their names suggest, Lunar is inspired by and infused with those plants and flowers that bloom at night, and Neptunia takes its inspiration from the coast and sea. (The Neptunia press release package included other seaside curiosities such as a seaweed facial mask and seashell earphones. Further to this, Neptunia was also used, to great success, as an oyster pairing during a session of Georgette Moger-Petraske’s in-home oyster salon, Regarding Oysters.)

Andersson maintains that this element of broad inspiration is what is driving Gracie’s Cabinet of Curiosities development process, rather than specific, local terroir, which is in line with Hendrick’s style. “We've been looking into flavors from all over the world,” he says, “but the way (Gracie) works isn’t so much terroir-driven, it’s about finding the best quality botanicals from anywhere, and looking at a bigger and bigger picture. Each expression is more about an idea, like with Neptunia it's the smells that you can pick up when you walk on the coast. That is really what she wanted to capture.”

3. The Cabinet of Curiosities Expressions Are Limited Releases

“The idea was for each gin to be on the market for a year, to highlight the Hendrick’s family,” says Andersson. Every Cabinet of Curiosities release is available for a limited time, however Neptunia will likely overlap with the next Curiosity to come on the market, which is expected in the spring of 2023..

4. The Curiosities All Begin with a Hendrick’s Base

“That’s the ‘mother sauce,’ as we call it,” says Andersson, which is where all the Cabinet of Curiosities expressions begin, layered with original Hendrick’s. Hendrick’s, as Andersson describes, is built with two separate distillates that employ different botanicals, one with a heavier profile and one with a lighter profile, which are then blended together and are infused with cucumber and rose. “The Cabinet or any other successful experiments that go to market begin with this,” he says.

5. Yes, There Is an Actual Cabinet

While Hendrick’s Master Distiller Lesley Gracie does have the requisite white hair, the “cabinet of curiosities” name isn’t meant to evoke some sort of mad scientist trope, but rather an exploration of the world and all the myriad botanicals that Gracie that committed to collecting. “The thing is, there is a physical cabinet,” says Andersson. “The cabinet contains a bunch of distillates and infusions of flavors, and so is basically a lab. The initial idea was to call the series ‘Cabinet Appearances.’”

The next member of the Cabinet of Curiosities lineup is expected by Spring 2023 at the earliest, and the Hendrick’s team are being diligent about spoilers as to its particular point of view, but according to Andersson: “I can promise a very beautiful story behind it.”