The Bite Magazine - Spring 2016 - Issue 15

Bombay Sapphire STAR OF BOMBAY As Bombay Sapphire presents their new rising star, Jada Brookes discovers the story behind Laverstoke Mill and Star of Bombay, an exquisite gin of unexpected dimensions. W hen you take a look at Laver- stoke Mill, the site on which Bombay Sapphire has had their distillery since 2014 it may be hard to estimate the length of history behind it. Not only is it believed to have been one of two mills recorded in William the Conqueror’s 1086 Domes- day Book but it is also thought to have dated even further back to 903 AD when the manor was in the posses- sion of Abbey of St. Peter,Winchester. With so much history behind it, it is no wonder that Bombay Sapphire has done their upmost to preserve the natural ecology and heritage of the site. King Henry VIII may have acquired Laverstoke Manor in 1538 when the monasteries were being dissolved but the real story behind this historic mill began some years after Henri de Portal was born on 8th July 1689 in Poitiers, France. Born into a wealthy family of French Huguenot nobles, de Portal arrived in Southampton between 1699 and 1700. It is rumoured that he was s m u g - gled out of France i n w i n e casks by the family’s cook to escape per- secution from the Catholic Church and the French mon- archy. After ten years, de Portal was naturalised and changed his name to Henry Portal, and in 1712, bitedrinks