Inside the Exclusive Spirits Tours Regular Travelers Aren't Allowed to Book
The first thing you notice is the heat. Step inside Bombay Sapphire Gin's impressive greenhouses at Laverstoke Mill, which is about 60 miles southwest of London, and the temperature jumps - tropical in one building, Mediterranean in the other.
"We create two micro climates," said Sam Carter, the brand's senior brand ambassador. Each structure looks like it's growing from the ground like a giant squash blossom and is made of 720 panes of glass. Most importantly they are engineered to grow a range of botanicals in their native environments. The air is thick with citrus, cassia, and juniper. It's a sensory jolt, even for someone who's written about spirits for years. So, why does a gin brand need such a sophisticated set up? Well, what separates one gin from another is the botanicals-herbs, spices, flowers and fruits-that are infused into the base of neutral grain spirit (basically vodka). The other major difference between gins is how that flavor is infused into the alcohol. Some brands like Beefeater use a giant teabag full of botanicals that is put directly into the still.
At Bombay, the alcohol is flavored when it's in a gasous state and flows through a series of baskets full of botanicals, which are filled by hand. This process gently extracts the vibrant essential oils and flavor compounds at a lower temperature without ever scorching the raw botanicals.
"We've got 21 baskets for these larger stills," Carter explains. I was handed gloves and invited to help filling them. Juniper went in first, measured into each basket in a precise, level layer. Then coriander. Then the powders: cassia, cubeb, grains of paradise, and orris. "If you put the powder at the bottom, it falls through or it clogs up," Carter says. "If you put them at the top, they get blown through, and you get cloudy gin." Angelica root followed-never above the citrus. "If you put the angelica above the lemon peel," he explained, "then the angelica is quite spongy and it absorbs the citrus note."
Finally came the lemon peel from Murcia, Spain -hand‑peeled, sun‑dried, and added last. Watching the peel go into the baskets made the process feel culinary-mise en place for a 28,000‑bottle batch. Not only was this a process that visitors never get to see, but one that they don't help complete.
It was the kind of access that makes even a seasoned writer rethink a spirits category that they thought they understood-and it's exactly the kind of experience Marriott Bonvoy Moments is built around.
Moments is Marriott's global experiential platform, where members redeem points for one‑of‑a‑kind events across sports, music, culinary, culture, and wellness. Think VIP concert access and pro‑sports meet‑and‑greets as well as chef collaborations, vineyard harvests, and hands‑on workshops that go far beyond what a typical traveler can book. Within that larger program, Marriott has launched a new beverage‑driven series-gin, Champagne, bourbon, and harvest‑season wine experiences-designed specifically around rare access, maker time, and deep craft immersion. I recently got a preview of the Bombay Sapphire experience.
"Consumption may be down overall, but the appetite for craft, story, and connection has never been higher," says Peggy Roe, Executive Vice President and Chief Customer Officer for Marriott International. "Eighty two percent [of our members] say food and beverage plays an important role in where they choose to travel."
Across hospitality, the trend is unmistakable: the Thompson Madrid recently launched a new bar with noted bar owner Murray MacDonald; The Inn at Warner Hall, a historic property set in Gloucester, Virginia, recently did an Eagle Rare Bourbon single barrel pick exclusively for the property; and the St. Regis Cap Cana recently debuted a limited-edition rum in collaboration with Ron Matusalem.
"Travelers want to go beyond the surface and explore their passions in new ways," Roe says. "We look for partners who share our belief that hospitality is about human connection, and who can offer our members something meaningful in return."
My own preview began at the JW Marriott Grosvenor House in London, where Gary Gruver, Marriott's Global Director of Beverage Strategy, opened the experience with a cocktail workshop. Gruver's connection to Bombay Sapphire runs deep - a few years ago he won a cocktail competition sponsored by the brand. He shook hibiscus syrup, pomegranate juice, basil, and grapefruit into a "patio‑pounder" befitting the heat wave. The evening continued at the chef's table at Corrigan's Mayfair, for a three-course dinner of Modern British dishes paired with gin cocktails.
From there, we headed into Hampshire, where Bombay Sapphire makes every drop of its gin. The green houses were the first stop and followed by a visit to an exhibition about the brand's signature botanicals that guests can see, smell and even taste through. The tour was led by the brand's Master of Botanicals Alessandro Garneri.
Later, we saw the still assembled with the baskets that we had helped fill. Bombay Sapphire hit the market in 1987 and doesn't have the juniper punch of many of its older counterparts. It was designed to convert vodka drinkers with something bright and nuanced, including citrus you could taste. It is also flavored with some unusual botanicals, like Moroccan cebub berries with vibrant pepper notes and West African grains of paradise with a citrus-ginger heat.
"If you forget everything we've said today, vapor infusion is really what makes our gin so unique," Carter says.
Standing in the still house, I realized how little of gin production most people ever see, and how much of it is done by hand. Earlier while in the distillery lab, Carter and Garneri discussed all the quality control technology the brand employs, but that the spirit still needed regular testing by humans. Garneri explained the human nose was still a much sharper piece of machinery. "Technology is great, but it doesn't do texture-and texture is a big part of it-aroma, taste, and texture. And it doesn't do emotion because it's a computer."
By pulling back the curtain on production, travel can become an immersion on the humans behind the craft. And that's why we visit places - for the emotion, the texture, and the people behind the pour.
This story was originally published by Men's Journal on Jul 8, 2026, where it first appeared in the Drink section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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This story was originally published July 8, 2026 at 11:31 AM.