IWSC 2020 Bronze Award Winner

25K Mediterranean Gin

From Distilleria Peroni Maddalena

The story of 25K starts with a shared passion for travel and adventure, cuisine and flavors. Riccardo and Simone, friends and colleagues, were at the stove one night when the idea came to them. While searching through the spices and aromas collected on their journeys, the light came on, “What if we made a gin”?

Different elements filled the table with colour: lavender from Provence, home-grown rosemary, star anise from Greece and then green cardamom, coriander and fennel seeds from Egypt, a bit of black pepper from Morocco and finally, yellow Amalfi lemons. After the first attempts the taste of this Mediterranean gin could already be considered unique, but according to the two friends, a note that would distinguish it further was missing. There were several experiments but no element gave the gin the flavour they had imagined, until a journey along the Tyrrhenian coast of Calabria gave them the missing link.

A walk through the hills near Tropea led them to a small house immersed in a fairytale atmosphere. The elderly hostess welcomed the boys inviting them to drink tea while telling her story and the choice to live alone, but in the company of nature. “Our land and its nature are more precious than 24k gold, only the licorice plants surrounding my house, for me, have 25 carats.” That licorice was the last element, the perfect note to make this gin, the one and only 25K. The Calabrese adventure therefore not only gave the missing taste, but also the idea of ​​adding gold - a symbol of the value of the fruits of our land and of devolving part of the proceeds to the support of the environment.