AN Oxfordshire gin distillery has been crowned as creating one of the world’s best gins.

Sky Wave Gin, based in Bucknell near Bicester, has been named the World’s Best Contemporary Gin at the 2020 World Gin Awards, just 18 months after being launched.

Andrew Parsons, the distillery's co-founder, said: “We couldn’t believe it. We were up against big gin names such as Manchester Gin, Martin Miller and Herno Gin.”

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The awards were announced at the international gala dinner in London on Thursday night attended by gin companies, retailers and journalists from around the world.

Its award-winning tipple was its signature bottle, London Dry Gin.

The gin is made up of 13 botanicals which reflect Oxfordshire, with blackberries foraged from hedgerows and the gin is cut with Blenheim Palace Spring Water.

Sky Wave Gin began as an outsider in the 600 strong competition, which is judged by 26 industry experts from around the world.

Rachel Hicks, co-founder and wife of Mr Parsons said: “We are a new, small artisan distillery, we create all our gin by hand, and we personally label and bottle it too.

“We entered the World Gin Awards last year and didn’t win anything. So we tried again this year and in January we were crowned Best Contemporary Gin in England. But last night was a dream come true.”

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Launched in 2018, the distillery was developed over seven months with hundreds of tastings and more than 40 recipes to get its London Dry Gin just right.

Sky Wave Gin is now hoping the award will help attract new distributors and business.

Mr Parsons said: “Our gorgeous Oxfordshire gin has been recognised on a global platform and now we want to share it far and wide.

“We will be growing our workforce in Oxfordshire with new sales staff and we are very keen to expand our distribution network. We want to speak to companies who’d like to represent the best contemporary gin in the world.”

Ms Hicks added: “It really is a big deal as the World Gin Awards celebrates the very best in all internationally recognised styles of gin.”

Sky Wave Gin has also won a double Gold Medal in the Chinese Wine and Spirits Competition in January 2020 and a Gold Medal in the International Women’s Wine and Spirits Awards 2020 in November last year.

The distillery's name not only reflects the adventures the couple experienced over mountains and seas, but it is also a term used in radio; in their former lives, they were respectively a BBC radio reporter and a Royal Signals officer.