Queen Elizabeth Releases Gin Made with Plants from Her Country Home

This past July, Buckingham Palace released its own gin that's made with botanicals gathered from the palace gardens. Thing is, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II doesn't stay at home for the holidays: She's been known to spend winters at another royal property, Sandringham House, in Norfolk. So now that estate has its own gin, too: Sandringham Gin, which is also produced with ingredients sourced directly from the estate.

"Distilled locally, our gin includes Sharon fruit, a woody tree related to ebony, also known as the Chinese Persimmon and foliage from myrtle plants," the official Sandringham Shop explains. The spirit is produced by WhataHoot, a distillery that originally launched in a barn on the Sandringham estate three years ago, but has since moved to a large facility in another part of Norfolk about 15 minutes away.

"The Sharon Fruit is grown in the Walled Garden on a sheltered wall at the end of what was a range of glass houses, built on the winnings of the famous racehorse, Persimmon, owned by King Edward VII," the shop says. "The foliage from myrtle plants also grown on the Estate, originated from a cutting taken from Princess Alexandra's wedding bouquet on her marriage to Prince Albert Edward, who later became King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra."

Each 500-milliliter bottle is being sold online for £50, or about $67 USD. That's significantly more expensive that the £40 Buckingham Palace was charging for its 700-milliliter bottles of gin. But hey, no one ever said going on vacation was cheap.

Unfortunately, neither of these gins are available to be shipped outside of the United Kingdom, so if you want to grab a bottle, you're going to have to travel to England. Or maybe, if you ask her nicely, the Queen will hand-deliver you some herself.