Former Brexit Party Leader Nigel Farage Shows How To Make the ‘Perfect Gin and Tonic’ With His Controversial Gin

Former Brexit party leader Nigel Farage demonstrated how to make the “perfect gin and tonic” with his trio of controversial gins in a video produced by right-wing political website Guido Fawkes.

Published on Tuesday, the video shows Farage entering the Guido Fawkes Speakeasy in order to craft a few cocktails with his own gin brand, Farage Gin.

“You need cold ice,” Farage begins to explain. “Now I’m not joking. The stuff in pubs that is literally just below freezing… First tip.”

“Then you need to decide what fruits you’re gonna use,” he continues while slicing up an orange.

After chatting about how his White Gin has a “little hint of Yorkshire licorice,” Farage pours a measure of it into a glass and tops it off with Fever-Tree Tonic Water and a lime wedge. According to Farage, the “perfect gin and tonic” is one part gin to two parts tonic.

Guido Fawkes Founder and Editor Paul Staines then enters the scene and the three men proceed to sip upon cocktails featuring Farage’s other two gins, Red (cherry flavored) and Blue (gardenia flavored) until the video comes to an end.

The “Taste of Brexit” Gin

Nigel Farage stands behind his trio of “quintessentially British” gins. (Photo: Nigel Farage/Youtube)

First debuted in November 2022, the Farage Gin trio stirred quite a controversy on social media after promotional material for the spirits declared them a “taste of Brexit” and a “patriotic take on this quintessentially British drink.”

Twitter users were quick to point out that while gin is synonymous with British culture, the juniper spirit is actually of Dutch origin, emerging from the malt wine and botanical spirit genever.

“I am so sorry to have to break it to Mr Farage, but gin is a European migrant,” a Twitter user wrote. “English distillers began making gin after ‘genever’, a Dutch juniper-flavoured liquor, came to England in the 17th century and became popular. The drink is quintessentially European.”

Furthermore, upon release, the distillery that produced Farage Gin was kept a secret, with the only information available being that it was “artisan” and “in the heart of Cornwall.” This led to a little more controversy as Twitter users said they would boycott the distiller once they figured out who it was. Following side-by-side bottle comparisons and a touch of internet sleuthing, people soon found out that Cornish Rock Distillery, which initially denied its involvement, was behind the gin.

Beyond an initially mysterious distillery and claims of “patriotic flavours,” Farage gin is curiously not made in a London dry style, the popular type of gin that did, in fact, originate in London.

Read more: Does London Dry Gin Have to be From London?

London dry is one of the few gin styles with strict elements of classification (in comparison to Old Tom, which only needs to be a bit sweet) and requires a spirit bearing its name to be clear in color and contain no added sugars. Farage Red and Blue are, just as their names imply, brightly colored and thus, cannot be classified as London dry.

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