Gin from Marlow Bottom! Our visit to Cross Stream Distillery

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MyMarlow was recently invited to visit a Marlow Bottom based gin business – Cross Stream Distillery.

The microdistillery produces premium, handcrafted gin and was launched in July 2019 by Charles and Chloe White, following 2 years of planning – including perfecting the recipe, and lots of legal paperwork! The pair both have day jobs in the food and drink business, and we were impressed with what they have achieved with Cross Stream in their spare time – having created a great tasting drink, available in many local establishments.

First things first of course – a tasting! First up was neat, not something we’d usually do , but it was so smooth that it went down a treat. We obviously didn’t turn down the chance to have a G&T, and it was delicious with a lovely citrus taste.

Charles explained that theirs is a traditional London Dry Gin with juniper, coriander seed and angelica – but with added ingredients including lemon, pink grapefruit and sweet orange. “We buy the fresh fruit, then peel and dehydrate it ourselves – all part of our aim to do everything ourselves by hand as far as possible” he told us.

Charles with the heart of the whole process- their copper pot still called “Jinx”

Tradition is at the heart of their business, and when the pair were talking us through their process, “by hand” and “traditional” were phrases that kept cropping up. They are self taught as far as gin distilling goes, and clearly have a huge passion for the product and the process.

While taking photos, we spotted their labelling “machine”! By now it was no surprise to find this was handmade too – a few bits of wood stuck together to allow accurate-ish placement of the label, which itself is of course hand-numbered for each small batch!

Charles and Chloe are a thoroughly charming couple, with an infectious passion for tradition, and they deserve to make a real success of this. Having a great tasting product is of course key to this, and in our opinion, they have created just that.

Where to drink Cross Stream Gin

To track it down, Cross Steam gin is currently served locally here:

  • The Coach
  • Claytons
  • The Oarsman
  • Marlow Rowing Club Bar
  • The Vanilla Pod
  • The Royal Oak (currently closed after the fire)
  • The Kings Head, Little Marlow
  • The Stag and Hunstsman, Hambleden
  • The Yew Tree, Frieth
  • Keg, Bourne end
  • The Bounty, Bourne End

Find out more…

Currently the business only sells to the trade, but a website will come soon with the ability to buy online. Until then, keep up to date on the fledgling business and the ever increasing list of pubs serving it here:

Article author: Paul Merchant

About the author: Founded MyMarlow.co.uk in its original version back in 2000 - yes the internet DID exist back then. Brought up in Marlow, went to school here, now has children at the same schools. Quite clearly loves all things Marlow - hence spending over 2 decades doing this!

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