WARNER’S GIN: A REVELATORY VISIT TO FALLS FARM

I love a surprise, and I certainly had one on a recent trip to Warner’s Distillery near Kettering. Having judged the gin category at major food and drink awards multiple times, I have grown to dread the afternoon session. That is the slot reserved for flavoured gin. Quite frankly, eighty per cent are atrocious monstrosities made with cheap artificial flavourings that taste foul. It is routinely the worst afternoon of my judging year. When you find a good one though, it can be absolutely delicious, as I was delighted to discover on the rolling hills of Falls Farm.

A large proportion of the craft gin that you exchange your hard-earned money for, expecting it to come from an idyllic rural paradise, has in fact been made by a contract distiller on a bleak industrial estate in a nondescript town. It is a world removed from what the marketing departments would have you believe.

Warner’s is entirely different. Based in the beautiful village of Harrington in Northamptonshire, it sits on a working family farm whose owners sought to diversify. Given the brutal economic realities of modern British agriculture, such diversification is a necessity to make a decent living from the land. Founded in 2012 by husband and wife team Tom Warner and Tina Warner-Keogh, the operation has grown from a local farm enterprise into a leading independent brand, all whilst maintaining an admirable B Corp certification.

Farming in the Blood: Meet the Founders

You quickly realise that people buy into people, and at Falls Farm, the human element is what makes the enterprise so compelling. This is no corporate boardroom venture; farming is in the couple's blood. Tom was raised right here on this working Northamptonshire land, where his father still runs a beef finishing operation. It was here that Tom developed a deep appreciation for gruelling hard work, natural ingredients, and the sheer power of land-based enterprise. After studying at Harper Adams Agricultural University—where he served as Students’ Union President—and a stint sourcing coffee in East Africa followed by commercial roles in the UK fresh produce industry, the undeniable pull of Falls Farm brought him home with a desire to build something lasting.

Tina’s background is equally rooted in the soil, having hailed from a potato farm in North County Dublin, Ireland. She initially forged a successful career in private equity, but the land called her back too. Together, they combined their commercial acumen and agricultural heritage to pioneer a new standard for craft spirits.

Their complementary strengths have turned Warner’s into a global success story, leading to them becoming national finalists for the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Awards. Tina, an alumnus of the Goldman Sachs 10KSB and an EY Winning Woman, is an absolute force for empowering women in business, even summiting Kilimanjaro with a group of female entrepreneurs to raise forty thousand pounds for charity. Yet, despite the accolades—including being named the Sunday Times Fast Track 100 fastest growing drinks business for two consecutive years—they remain firmly at the helm on the farm, entirely authentic and accessible.

The Pastoral Playground

As you enter the distillery gates, you spot the visitor shop to your left before heading to the car park. Unbeknown to me at the time, we also strolled past the copper stills and the hives that house their hardest working residents, more of which became clear later. To your right, a welcoming garden area opens up, complete with a beautifully weathered mobile gin bar, ample seating, and a barbecue sizzling in the summer air, all encouraging you to charge your glass and not your phone.

However, the problem is that Falls Farm is so intensely picturesque that you cannot help but take photos. Everywhere you look, texture abounds. One particular tractor, finished in a cool grey, serves as a stunning flower-embellished centrepiece. Bursting with purples, pinks, and yellows from surrounding galvanised metal pails, it is perfectly positioned against a backdrop of historic, red-roofed stone buildings. The juxtaposition of weathered machinery and delicate florals perfectly encapsulates the Warner's philosophy.

The real magic happens when you venture further out. We were taken on a tour transported in a covered trailer pulled by a tractor, bouncing through fields where sheep roam freely. Warner's cultivates sixteen acres of botanical gardens on the property. It was here, looking over expansive, structured rows, that we saw the core ingredients growing in the rich soil. The air was thick with the scent of vibrant lemon verbena and deeply rooted angelica. This was no theoretical "industrial craft." We walked alongside countless rows of fragrant, purple lavender, which stood near the rhubarb plots. Nearby were rows of prickly juniper bushes and native sloes, destined to find their way into a lucky recipient's glass.

Artificial flavouring simply does not enter the conversation here. Everything is rooted in nature rather than engineered in a laboratory. In fact, if you buy their Rhubarb Gin, which happens to be the world first, over one third of the bottle consists of pure, real rhubarb juice. The result is a magnificent balance of fresh, tangy, and sweet notes that pairs sublimely with ginger ale or Mediterranean tonic. You can also get inventive with your cocktails, especially as the beautiful, natural colour lends itself to them so well.

The Heartbeat in the Barn

For all the scale of their global success, the physical distillation process remains an incredibly intimate affair. Housed inside a 200-year-old converted barn sits the absolute beating heart of the entire operation: their bespoke copper pot still, affectionately named 'Curiosity'. Built by the legendary German still manufacturer Arnold Holstein, it is a magnificent piece of engineering, though I was entirely taken aback by its surprisingly compact, modest size. One might expect towering, factory-scale columns for a producer of this size, but 'Curiosity' is wonderfully small-scale, and brought home that this is genuinely a craft distillery in a world where this term is overused.

Looking at its rounded copper top sitting atop a textured, dimpled stainless steel base, you can sense the history and care wrapped up in it. This compact setup is cleverly equipped with eight bubble plates and a specialised catalyser that binds impurities and softens acidity. It is this precise, diminutive configuration that gently coaxes the delicate oils from the farm's hand-gathered botanicals, blending them seamlessly with natural spring water sourced just three hundred metres away on the property.

Conquering Low and No

Tom and Tina have brought that same uncompromised agricultural ethos to the notoriously tricky low and no market. Making a non-alcoholic spirit that actually tastes good, and does not simply feel like an expensive bottle of water or a cloying syrup, is a challenge where many massive global distilleries have failed spectacularly. Without alcohol to act as a natural carrier for flavour, drinks producers routinely resort to artificial additives or excessive sugars to mimic the mouthfeel of gin. Warner's, however, has approached the problem as farmers rather than chemists. By utilising their still to gently steam-distil natural ingredients directly from their sixteen acres, they have managed to capture the true, aromatic volatile oils of their botanicals. The resulting 0% spirits range is completely natural, characterised by a remarkably authentic, complex bite and a long, botanical finish. It provides a genuine alternative for mindful drinkers.

The Buzz of Authenticity

It is impossible to discuss the botanical abundance of Falls Farm without talking about the bees. Globally, bees are the silent custodians of our food supply, yet public understanding of them is often limited. While there are over twenty thousand distinct bee species worldwide and more than two hundred and fifty in the UK alone, less than four per cent of them actually make honey. The rest are solitary heroes, vital for the pollination that keeps our planet alive. The complexity of their survival is mind-boggling; honeybees navigate using a combination of polarized light, the position of the sun, and the earth's magnetic fields, communicating the location of prime floral hotspots to their peers through a complex dance.

At Warner's, this ecological wonder is brought into sharp, interactive focus. Led by their dedicated beekeeper, I was invited to put on a protective suit and watch as the hives were opened and the slats removed for closer inspection. This experience is truly immersive. I watched the beekeeper, complete with a distinctive mesh hood, holding a frame heavy with intricate honeycomb and dozens of bustling bees. The visual detail was incredible.

Stepping into that buzzing, aromatic cloud of warm wax and sweet nectar is an unforgettable sensory rush. Watching the bees moving across the frames was fascinating. The younger bees act as “door keepers” while the more mature venture up to 3km away to find suitable pollen.

The family’s absolute passion for these creatures is incredibly authentic. Tina’s mother kept hives back on her family farm in Ireland, and that inherited reverence for the land shines through. These millions of "honeybee teammates" keep the distillery’s vast botanical gardens healthy, and in return, the family has dedicated five acres of the farm strictly to a wildflower paradise to ensure they thrive. It is a beautiful, closed-loop ecosystem where a dollop of pure golden nectar from those very hives directly infuses their Honeybee Gin, lending it a soft, creamy complexity balanced by lavender and citrus.

The Falls Farm Portfolio

The same uncompromised approach to real ingredients extends across their entire selection of farm-born liquids:

• London Dry Gin (40% ABV): A fresh, zesty, and fragrant expression distilled with farm-grown lemon verbena and lavender. It makes a beautiful dry martini.
• Harrington Dry Gin (44% ABV): Named after their home village, this is a richer, more robustly spiced dry gin cut with natural spring water from the farm.
• Raspberry Gin (40% ABV): One third of every bottle is pure raspberry and blackberry juice, lifted by hand-gathered elderflowers. It is vibrant, jammy, and exceptional when topped with prosecco for a Raspberry Royale.
• Elderflower Gin (40% ABV): A delicate, sweet distillate that relies on over three hundred individual elderflowers, harvested by hand on the farm just once a year.
• Honeybee Gin (40% ABV): Soft, floral, and zesty, infused with honey produced by the millions of honeybee teammates keeping the farm ecosystem thriving.
• Warner’s 0% Non-Alcoholic Spirits: An award-winning, 100% natural alternative range inspired by the farm's botanicals, crafted specifically for those looking to skip the alcohol without sacrificing real, bold flavour.

Tom and Tina have spent over a decade on a mission to save the world from mediocre drinks, and standing amidst the textured crops and historic stone walls of Falls Farm, it is clear they are winning the battle. Today, Tom is focused on the next chapter: pushing the boundaries of regenerative farming and creating new products from food waste to build the world's most nature-positive drinks business. They are successfully proving that a commercial spirits business can be genuinely sustainable while achieving global commercial success. Their gin is simply delicious, highly decorated, and widely available across major retailers and independent stores alike.