When you think of a gin distillery, what comes to mind?

Rows of copper stills, industrial equipment and warehouses? Well, there are distilleries, and then there is the Hendrick’s Gin Palace.

Tucked away in Girvan, on Scotland’s rugged Ayrshire coast, it's the sort of place that makes you reconsider what a distillery is supposed to look like. Here, gin-making comes with a little curiosity, a touch of whimsy and a whole lot of tradition. 

But beyond its splendour, the Gin Palace is home to its creative outlets, an in-house production site and all things unusual. Behind the unusual branding is a careful process shaped by science, craftsmanship and a willingness to explore a different side of things. Behind the eccentricity is serious craft. Gin does not become distinctive and loved by many by accident. Every sip reflects decisions about ingredients, flavour, technique, and the people who bring them together.

A visit to the Gin Palace revealed a side of Hendrick’s that goes beyond rose and cucumber. It’s a place where the story began long before the whimsy and the first pour. 

A Little Palace With a Lot of Character

Image Credit: Hendrick's Gin

At first glance, the Gin Palace is a classic English garden that invites you to slow down and take in its theatrical Victorian-inspired, glasshouse-like display. Once inside, it feels almost like stepping into someone's wonderfully peculiar imagination. And once you step inside, you will be greeted with little quirks all over the space, signifying their brand values and aspirations. For instance, travel and exploration equipment, old-world gears and botanical references evoke an age when distant lands were documented through journals by explorers. Almost as if every object has a story and every room holds something waiting to be discovered. 

Hendrick’s proves that there is more to storytelling than just packaging. Rather than relying on a single outlet or a carefully repeated slogan, Hendrick’s invites you into an entire world. The exploration theme at its forefront feels especially fitting for a gin whose creation is so closely tied to botanicals. Its uniqueness has never been limited to the unusual combination of rose and cucumber in its gin. From its signature apothecary-style bottle to its playful visual identity, the brand has cultivated a world that feels part Victorian, part botanical experiment and part explorer's daydream.

Image Credit: Hendrick's Gin

Apart from the main glasshouse are two smaller greenhouses, each with its own climate. One recreates Mediterranean conditions for citrus trees, while the other offers a tropical environment for more exotic plants. But these are not decorative additions to the Gin Palace. They are working spaces for experimentation, where botanicals are grown, studied and tested for their potential in future gin creations.

Walking through the Gin Palace, it becomes easier to see how the setting and the spirit belong to the same story. Both are built around the idea that familiar things can be approached from an unfamiliar angle.

Plus, they also house a very special Tortoise in the main area and his name happens to be - Pepe!

The Wonderful Lesley Gracie

Image Credit: Hendrick's Gin

Behind the drink the world knows and loves is a woman whose curiosity (and skill) helped make it unlike anything else.

Meet Lesley Gracie, the Master Distiller behind Hendrick’s Gin. With a background in pharmaceutical chemistry and a fascination with the natural world (and a borderline obsession with chocolate), her journey into gin-making was anything but conventional.

Before joining William Grant & Sons in 1988, Lesley worked in the pharmaceutical industry to try and help make medicine a little tastier. Little did she know, her experience in chemistry and flavour research would be her instrument to create a gin that dared to challenge convention and the traditional methods of making gin. When the opportunity came to develop Hendrick’s in 1999, she was given two antique stills, the Bennett and the Carter-Head, and complete freedom to experiment with what they could produce. And sometimes, the result of creative freedom can be very iconic. We got to pick at Lesley’s brain a little bit for some interesting questions:

What's the weirdest ingredient you've ever tried in a recipe?

“The weirdest one would probably be the scorpion tail plant that I found when I was out in Venezuela, amazing flavour profile, and it just sits so well with the Hendrick's profile…but it was a seriously weird ingredient. Seriously weird place to find it.”

One word for the Gin Palace?

“Totally weird, weird, definitely…”

If you collected curiosities outside of gin, what would your collection be?

“Well, I do have well over 50 orchids at home so I suppose that counts as a weird collection. My husband certainly thinks so!”

If I wasn't a Master Distiller, I would be…

“I would be a vet. I really love animals. REALLY love animals.”

After all these years, I'm still curious about…

“I'm still curious about how things are gonna taste and how they're gonna sit together when you get the flavours together. Sometimes things you think are gonna work, don't, and other times you think they're not going to, and they do and it's just that interest of how it's gonna sit together.”

If you asked my younger self what I'd be doing now, she'd say…

“Ah! Just having fun, just being a complete lunatic that I really am.”

Perhaps that is what makes Lesley’s the perfect Master Distiller. Hendrick’s may now be recognised around the world, but its beginnings were rooted in a simple willingness to experiment and see where curiosity might lead. The combination of science and imagination is what makes the story behind the gin worth exploring, and it is a philosophy that seems to extend beyond the bottle itself.

Where Tradition Meets Experimentation

The brand takes a very progressive route when it comes to experimentation; some things just don’t change. 

At the heart of the Gin Palace are two stills with histories that long predate the brand itself! The Bennett, a copper pot still dating back to 1860, and the Carter-Head, built in 1948. Acquired by the owners long before the idea of Hendrick’s even came to light. These still would sit in waiting until Charles Gordon (great-grandson of William Grant, founder of William Grant & Sons.) challenged Lesley Gracie to create a gin that was entirely different from what was already available. He handed her a rose and a cucumber, and the rest was history. 

Working with these two stills presented a different kind of challenge to Lesley. Making use of the two stills not current to her usual equipment was one problem; the second was trying to match them together. Her final puzzle was the rose and the cucumber. Although they were central to the idea behind Hendrick’s, distilling them alongside the other botanicals would not preserve the fresh, green cucumber notes Lesley wanted. But a breakthrough happened, something so small, that became the defining decision that would make the perfect blend we call Hendrick’s Gin today. 

In a world where artificial intelligence seems to be a basic skill, tradition seems like the only way to follow at the Hendrick’s distillery. Almost ancient copper stills and delicate ingredients found new possibilities with a little help from outside-the-box thinking. That balance remains at the heart of Hendrick’s production till today.

Cabinet of Curiosities

Image Credit: Hendrick's Gin

The Gin Palace is not only home to Hendrick’s production, but also Lesley Gracie’s personal playground and office. Over the years, her experiments have taken the brand well beyond its signature rose and cucumber, exploring flavours and inspirations that are as unexpected as they are intriguing. With Lesley, curiosity can come from almost anywhere, whether it is a personal love, a faraway landscape or the plants growing right outside her door. And if there is one thing these experiments have in common, it is their ability to raise an eyebrow with the first sip.Without further ado, here are our picks:

Another Hendrick’s: Chocolate for the Master Distiller

Image Credit: Hendrick's Gin

To say Lesley is a massive fan of chocolate would still be an understatement, so when the chance came for her to pair gin and chocolate, she spared no time.

This pairing of gin and chocolate was no surprise when it came to her. Another Hendrick’s brings together the familiar rose and cucumber with orange blossom and cacao beans. The challenge was to ensure the gin retained its botanical notes without being overpowered. The result is an unexpected meeting of velvety chocolate notes and bright citrus florals. Released in 2026, it also marks the brand’s first new permanent addition to its range in nine years.

Oasium: Finding inspiration in unlikely environments

Image Credit: Hendrick's Gin

Oasium takes its inspiration from an unexpected setting: a desert oasis. During her many travels, Lesley found herself in the desert and wondered about the lush flora growing in such dry and unforgiving environments. That curiosity sparked research into exotic fruits and herbs, layered on top of the classic Hendrick’s recipe. The result? A fresh, fruity and herbaceous flavour that offers a completely different take on traditional gin. And sometimes, inspiration can be found where you least expect it. It’s also a recommendation for those who enjoy tequila!

Flora Adora: A little something for the pollinators

Image Credit: Hendrick's Gin

Flora Adora’s story begins much closer to home, in the gardens surrounding the Gin Palace. Lesley has always had a love for the flora and fauna in the natural world. Inspired by what makes the bees so attracted to flowers, she decided to play bee and research on flavour profiles from different flowers. She introduces Floral Adora. It is a sweet, fresh floral character balanced by green, herbal notes. Inspired by the beauty of the natural world, this one almost feels like drinking Mother Nature’s gift. 

What connects these three expressions is not a particular flavour, but the curiosity and meaning behind them.  Meaning held close to home or questions she wanted to answer. Not every experiment needs to become a permanent fixture, and perhaps that is part of the appeal. Inside Lesley’s playground, the process of discovering what might work seems just as important as the final drink.

Signing Off From The Gin Palace

Image Credit: Hendrick's Gin

It is without a doubt that a bottle of gin is rarely just something to be consumed. It’s something to celebrate with, something to enjoy and something to immerse yourself in. We got to look closely at how behind every bottle is a story of curiosity, years of experimentation, a woman who dared to think differently, and two old stills that found new purpose in her hands. Who thought you could taste an English Garden from clear liquid packed in an apothecary bottle? 

Leaving the Gin Palace, it is hard not to see Hendrick’s a little differently. The next time a glass is poured, perhaps there will be a little more appreciation for everything that went into it, and a reminder that sometimes, the most extraordinary things begin with nothing more than the courage to wonder: what if?