capturing the aroma, taste and spirit of Vis island
The Greeks & The Greek Sage
The history of Vis starts with the Greek’s who founded Vis, and named it Issa. You have to travel long back in your time capsule; all the way back to 4th century B.C. where the Greeks formed the most powerful Greek colony in the Adriatic sea with its own money, laws and strict controls on urban development on Issa. With them they brought the sage, the ancient Greeks used sage as a body- and mind toner and later on, for the Romans as a sacred herb.
In Croatia, the Greek sage (Salvia Fruticosa Mill) is only found on the Island of Vis, and as part of history and the origin of Vis the Greek sage had to play an important part in the taste we wanted to create in our botanical gin.
Lemons
What would be a gin & tonic without a twist of lemons and lemons from Vis are reckoned to be the very best in all of Croatia, the oils and perfumed skin and juicy flesh is widely known. Tons of citrus fruits travel from Vis every winter to give countries a taste of the fresh summer.
Of course citrus was an obvious choice when choosing the botanicals for our gins. In the coldest months of the year the citrus fruits give a vibrant colour to Vis and they shout out to start the job of peeling 500 kilos of organic lemons. The lemons are hand peeled and hung up to dry to keep the juice in the skin before distillation. The smell of the skin is like a clean, fresh perfume oil that brightens up your day and goes hand in hand with our gin.
