Hay historias que se escriben con tiempo y palabras sencillas. Fuego, agua, enebro, leña, paisaje, paisanaje, tradición, artesanía. La de Gin Xoriguer es una de estas historias. Destilerías Xoriguer elabora la que probablemente es la ginebra más antigua del Mediterráneo. Lo hace de manera artesanal en base a una receta de 1750 y en alambiques de cobre de más de 200 años de antigüedad, singularidad por la que ha sido merecedora del reconocimiento como Indicación Geogràfica Protegida ‘Gin de Mahón’. ¿Quieres saber cómo Destilerías Xoriguer se convirtió en el principal exponente de esta auténtica tradición embotellada?
Why is the Xoriguer bottle green? And why does it have that loop handle on the neck?
Well, this feature goes back to the time when liquor was sold in bulk and then transported in special containers which were called ‘canecos’, allowing people to safely carry their drink home and keep it cool.
This custom was retained until the early 80s, when Xoriguer had to start bottling its gin. They wanted a bottle that evoked Menorca, and that’s why they chose a brown glass one with a typical loop handle.
With the closure of many glass factories during the years of global recession in the 90s, it became more and more difficult to source brown glass. The business found an alternative option in green glass. They changed the colour but maintained the original bottle shape and handle.
And what about that windmill with the blades on the label?
This was another nod at Miguel Pons Justo’s origins’ working history, harking beyond the distillery to a time when they were millers at a farm lying in the south of Menorca… called Son Xoriguer.
This is why, when Pons Justo needed to find an image for his gin, he opted for one of the Xoriguer mill from the year 1784, where many generations of his family had turned quintals of wheat into flour. It was his way of highlighting how his distillery mirrored the values founded in that old windmill – tradition, quality and dedication.