Handcrafted with love and passion

The DelRey Classic Gin is made with 12 different botanicals and spices, painstakingly selected from Europe and S.E Asia. René, the ‘meesterstoker’ as they say in Dutch or the master distiller, applies his skills to produce the best hand-crafted gin of our times. The recipe has gone through rigorous  rounds of tasting sessions and constructive feedback to produce a premium London dry gin! Ingredients such as Madagascan Vanilla, Cardamom, sweet orange and Orris root among others, along with Juniper berries makes for a beautifully rounded gin.

Inspired by its traditional use in the making of medicinal teas, we’ve used the vibrant Hibiscus flower to create a delicious gin unlike any you’ve experienced before. The floral pink accents, herbaceous aroma and tangy essence result in a finely balanced gin that is both fanciful and fun.

Del Rey’s tangerine saffron gin evokes all the qualities of an excellent gin spirit, but adds new layers with the interplay of saffron and tangerine. Notes of fresh juniper, sweet tangerines and luxuriant Indian saffron combine for a truly unique gin blend that leaves you craving for more!

The person who came up with the initial idea, the background, the desire and indeed the detailed plan is René Kamphuis.

René was born in the picturesque town of Ootmarsum, located in the east of The Netherlands and renowned for its art galleries, chic boutiques and hilly surroundings. One day, his mother, a very adventurous and sporty individual, picked up a coffee liqueur recipe from a friend who belonged to her cycling club. She adapted the recipe with astonishing results! So much so that all her friends wanted to know where they could buy the liqueur! This triggered René and his wife Jasmine to experiment further, at first with some comical incidents, but, over a period of time the taste got better and better, the alcohol became more stable, and the overall consistency of the end product was just magical…  Rene & Jasmine had managed to produce a coffee liqueur that was of outstanding quality and as good as any on sale in the market!  This prompted Rene and Jasmine to try making different liqueurs, with a variety of flavours: raspberry, vanilla, fudge, cinnamon, etc. Gradually, this success led them to also try making spirits; Gin in particular.  Thus began the whole process of tasting different Gins available on the market, analysing the ingredients and botanicals, and trialling various processes that all aid the production of this unique and very enjoyable spirit!

So far so good, but René was only producing liqueurs and spirits for personal consumption, as well as family and friends. He therefore started thinking earnestly to turn his little cottage alchemy into a serious business!  By profession René is an IT expert and has worked in the industry for over two decades, which was fine, but be felt the need to be more creative and to do something that connected with his new passion – Distilling! Therefore, to get a solid grounding in the art and science of distilling, and as a prerequisite to starting a distillery, René undertook formal training, at the IStill Centre in Amsterdam. He met all the course requirements and passed the exams with flying colours!  Soon thereafter, he started drafting the business plan to launch DelRey!

Originally from India with a background in Marketing, Jasmine has supported every stage in the founding of DelRey. Jasmine was raised with culinary delights and intricate species such as peppers, cinnamon, cardamoms, cloves and many others. The combination of a strong acumen in product promotion and deep understanding of how species blend, allows Jasmine to develop spirits that really appeal to customers.

Finally, René and Jasmine’s dream to start a distillery was validated by Vin Morar, an international development consultant.

Vin is a connoisseur of fine alcohol beverages; a natural cultivation of working right across the globe and appreciating locally produced potions and tonics. Vin’s professional background is in finance and small business development, hence it was a ‘no-brainer’ decision to become a co-investor in DelRey.