Ginspiration!
An enterprising Cypriot and the founder of Kean soft drinks named Takis Christodoulou is renowned for assisting in the defeat of Rommel at El Alamein by Field Marshall Montgomery.
Cyprus was already involved in the story of the desert campaign. Cypriot donkeys aided with the logistics of moving supplies across this hostile environment. One essential item was sadly missing. Montgomery was rumoured to have done his best thinking after a gin and tonic (or two.)
Due to blockades and the presence of u-boats, London gin could not reach the Sahara! Here, Takis valiantly comes to the rescue. First, he uses his soft drinks knowledge to produce a quinine enriched tonic.
Takis then tackled the gin itself. He re-distilled zivania to produce a purer spirit, using juniper berries gathered from the Aoratos trees on the Akamas. He distilled a gin that was transported to Alexandria on caiques before fittingly, being carried on Cypriot donkeys to Montgomery himself!
The rest, as they say, is history.
If Akamas junipers were good enough for Montgomery, they are the quintessential botanical for our Soli gin.
Read more about Takis and Kean
