Mahon gin is probably the first gin distilled in the Mediterranean, born nearly 300 years ago during the British occupation in our island, Menorca.   In fact, at the request of both British and Dutch sailors in the local taverns encouraged Menorcan master craftsmen to initiate distillation of Geneva or Gin, creating in 1736 the unique recipe of Mahon Gin which Miguel Pons Justo, founder of our distillery,has kept under the name of ‘Xoriguer Mahon Gin’ until the present day.

Xoriguer is one of the few distilleries in the world which continues distilling using traditional methods and it’s recognised by European Union as being “Protected Geographical Indication” ‘Mahon Gin’. The peculiarity of our gin is based on its traditional methods using a combination of high quality agriculturural alcohol and hand selected juniper berries which have been rested for several years. The process of distilling Xoriguer Gin is called the one-shotmethod, which requires local firewood from the clearance and maintenance of Menorca forests, and sea water as a coolant.

The unique and singular character comes from a single distillation using copper stills dating from two centuries ago. Discarding the head and tail, our gin is made only from the heart of the distillation, after collecting and tasting, the result is a cristal clear gin with a unique character rich in the essential oils of juniper berries.

The final step of bottling and labelling takes place at our distillery in the port of Mahon, we continue to use traditional bottles, the design of which hasn’t changed since 1736.