I was introduced to this Gin by a bartender who knew I was English and said that perhaps I would like to try a Mechelen Gin.  This was my first introduction to Mr G – Mechelen’s own Gin. A further introduction was at the Mechelen Gin Festival which was held in October 2016, a more up to date Festival is happening 7 May 2017  (one to book into your diary if you are Spirits or Gin drinker).

It was not surprising as Mechelen already has it’s own brewery and also a single malt whisky – so why not a Gin as well.  So I made contact with the two Gentlemen from Mr G and they kindly answered my various questions about their specialised Gin.

Introducing Christophe and Manu.

Q: What brought the idea of producing a drink, in particular – Gin?
A: Christophe and I were active members of Round Table Mechelen (RT56) and one of the organizers of the big b-to-b event ‘Mechelen Leeft’ (+/- 750 people attending).  2 years ago we wanted to boost the income (all profit goes to social local projects!) by creating a special gin for the occasion.

But: the start-up cost to create the gin was too high.  So we decided that we would bare the costs + give all the gin for free to RT56 for that specific night (Mechelen Leeft).  As of the first sign that ‘a gin from Mechelen’ was created, it started a life of its own.

Q: What style of Gin where you wanting for The Gin Gents?  Was there anything particular that inspired you?
A: We wanted a gin with a twist of Mechelen (it had to be the one and only gin from the historical city of Mechelen). That’s why we took a poppy-rose from the European award-winning rose-garden of ‘Vrijbroekspark’ Mechelen (with ‘moon-seed’ / maanzaad) as the centre of our gin.  Then we started testing and testing and … and added 16 additional botanicals to our first gin (= Mr. Gin Original 37,5% alc.vol with 17 botanicals). This gin is what we call a ‘compound’ gin.

This is the main reason why we wanted to create an high-level gin: our Mr. Gin London Dry (45% alc. vol with 16 botanicals).  The London dry follows the technical distillation guides (to create a London dry, all the botanicals macerated for 32 hours in the alcohol inside the kettle and are than distilled once).  It’s an a-typic London dry.  We used only 16 of the 17 botanicals because 1 herb we left out: ‘karwei’ (anis-like herb).  Label explained: Mr. Gin stand for: ‘Mister’ gin or ‘Moon’-‘Rose’ gin

Original:
The moon of Mechelen is in the center (People born in Mechelen are ‘maneblussers’), the gentlemen’s hat is a link to the ‘gentlemen’ club (Round Table of Mechelen), the pink inside is a link to the ‘rose’ (and the soft character of the gin, only 37,5% alc.vol). The back of the label is translated to old dialect by one or our well-known city-guides.

London-dry:
The label has its roots in the original version but upgraded (like the gin) with stylish black and real gold-leaf to express its really fine character and high-level stronger content.

Q: You began in May 2015, what was the biggest challenge you have faced prior to starting the Gin? eg – Securing the bottles, labeling, the taxes etc… *wink* too many drunk afternoons sampling the various Gin samples?
A: Christophe and I are entrepreneurs with skills in Food and Marketing, but the challenge was to really find out how to create the gin with skilled people helping us (from the original we created 13 versions to get it right, from the London Dry we made 28 versions), find the best bottles and corks.  How to get everything done with legislations and certifications. T he first 6000 bottles went through our own hands from scratch.  After the growing success we really needed to professionalise – but with the link to ‘crafts’.  Since we do everything ourselves, we also do our own distribution.  The good-thing: we control everything, the bad-thing: we are rather local and we need to expand ignorer to grow more.

Q: Nearly two years have passed, so how has it been?
A: A rollercoaster!

Q: Where do you see The Gin Gents in 2 years time?
A: We really want to grow and get our gin into export!  We want other people to get to know our Mr. Gin.  We also are specialized in ‘aerators’ so we are the official import of ‘Vinturi’ in BeLux.

Q: Are you exporting overseas at the moment?  If so where?
A: We are in progress, it’s slow but we really want to start in 2017!

Q: Your best selling Gin is?
A: The original, because it is longer on the market + its cheaper

Q: Where can you purchase it from?
A: From Metro to local shops. I really think every shop in Mechelen who sells alcohol has it 🙂
and the Cost is: 
36 euro tax incl original
45 euro tax incl London dry

For more information please contact Manu or Christophe on the below contact details: 
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mrginmechelen/
website: http://thegingents.com/
twitter: @mrginmechelen