London hotel tries its hand at gin production

“Gin & Tonic has saved more Englishmen’s lives, and minds, than all the doctors in the Empire,” Winston Churchill once said. Given the national importance of the drink, it’s no surprise that gin plays a big role in London hotels. But St Ermin’s in London’s St James’ Park goes a step further than simply seeing it as an essential part of the bar (and minibar), the four-star deluxe establishment now boasting its own small batch gin, made using home-grown botanicals handpicked from the hotel’s kitchen roof garden and a touch of honey from its resident Buckfast bees.