In recent months, Queen guitarist Brian May has turned into something of a serial collaborator, working on projects with Steve Cropper, Billy Gibbons, William Shatner, Daniel May (his grandson), TV “Supervet” Noel Fitzpatrick and Graham Bonnet, and he’s not done yet.
May’s latest collab is with London’s Portobello Road Distillery, with whom he’s created The Red Special Gin, named in tribute to his iconic Red Special guitar.
“I’ll be proud to see this new collaboration out there,” says May. “I completely relate to the very British homespun ethos of Portobello, and their attention to detail, making this a very high-quality product. Like the electric guitar, this Red Special has to be enjoyed responsibly!”
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“Working with Sir Brian May on Red Special Gin has been a real joy,” enthuses Gemma Monaghan Gilbert, Marketing Director at Portobello Road Distillery. “What makes this collaboration so special is that it’s rooted in a shared passion for craftsmanship, creativity and doing things differently.
“Brian has poured so much of his own story, his character and creativity into the project, and we’ve loved bringing that together with our own London distilling heritage. Red Special is the result of two British icons coming together to create something genuinely unique.”
The limited-edition Red Special Gin is a premium London Dry Gin, flavoured with a variety of botanicals, including juniper, liquorice root, sage and calamansi orange, the latter grown in May’s own greenhouse. The distillery describe the result as “distinctive and elegant, with subtle complexity and a vibrant citrus finish. It is a gin with character, just like the man behind it.”
The bottle also tips its hat to May’s guitar, with a sixpence embedded in the lid in tribute to the coin May has used as a plectrum since building the Red Special guitar with his father Harold over 18 months between early 1963 and late 1964.
The Brian May Red Special gin ships on October 8 and is available to pre-order now.
