Britain’s First Public Museum, The Ashmolean, celebrates World Cocktail Day with Gibson’s Organic Liqueurs & The Oxford Artisan Distillery Collaborations

On Monday 13th May, Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum, will celebrate World Cocktail Day with their very own Ashmolean Dry Gin and the award-winning Gibson’s Organic Liqueurs with their delicious collaboration: Ashmolean Crab Apple Organic Liqueur.

The invite only event will take place in the Ashmolean’s Rooftop Restaurant located above Oxford’s iconic Ashmolean Museum – the perfect location for a drink gathering or party.

The restaurant boasts the original rooftop terrace that has been a popular meeting spot for generations. Newly planted, the stunning open-air terrace provides stunning views across the rooftops and steeples of this stunning city, heavenly on a warm summer evening.

And what better place than to enjoy cocktails and nibbles and celebrate World Cocktail Day!

Situated just outside Burford in the Cotswolds, Gibson’s story began in 2007 when Miles Gibson returned home to his family farm, inspired by two years spent volunteering on organic farms around the UK, to begin planting fruit. Five years of gradually increasing the acreage of soft fruit and experimenting with recipes, led to the production of the first commercial batches of raspberry and blackcurrant liqueurs.

The land on Gibson’s Oxfordshire farm is worked sustainably without the use of pesticides or synthetic fertilisers. Only fruit, flowers and leaves grown on the farm make it into the products, which are vegan, gluten and sulphite free. It’s impossible not to taste the generous amount of high-quality fruit that goes into every bottle.

“I am thrilled to be involved with a local institution that is actively supporting artisan businesses rather than just paying lip-service to this idea”. – Miles Gibson

The Ashmolean Crab Apple Organic Liqueur features artwork by Simon Verelst (1644-1721), Still Life of Apple Blossom, Oil on canvas, WA1940.2.88

Flavoured with seventeen botanicals including exotic kaffir lime, rose, jasmine, and spices from the Middle East, the finish is clean with a lingering taste of orris and lemongrass. Ashmolean Dry Gin is distilled from seed-to-still – and into the bottle – using ancient heritage grains grown by certified organic farming partners, regenerating the land and supporting biodiversity with every sip.

The artwork on the label is Spray of Morning Glory by Takeuchi Seiho (1864-1942) from the Eastern Art collection.

Gibson’s Organic Liqueurs is one of five new brands added to the Ashmolean Museum’s Brand Licensing programme, which thrives by collaborating with a diverse range of businesses to create
unique products inspired by the museum’s rich collections.

SHOP OUR COLLABORATIONS

The Ashmolean Shop currently offers three delicious flavours from the Gibson’s range; Crab Apple, Elderflower and Sloe Gin, all of which are available to purchase from the Ashmolean shop online and instore. These quintessentially English flavours are a wonderful tribute to the Ashmolean’s collections and the surrounding Oxfordshire countryside. Ashmolean Dry Gin made using heritage grains is also available to purchase the Ashmolean and all good retailers.

Crab Apple, 35cl | RRP £19.95 – A collaboration between the Ashmolean Museum and Gibson’s Organic Liqueurs, the label features artwork by Simon Verelst (1644-1721), Still Life of Apple Blossom, Oil on canvas, WA1940.2.88. Within this flavourful liqueur there is a hint of star anise used to give a bit of character. The base spirit is a pure, gluten free organic grain spirit, so what you taste is the apples not the alcohol. It is delicious on its own, chilled with pudding or cheese, or put in fizz or a cocktail like an Appletini.

Elderflower, 35cl | RRP £19.95
The liqueur is the quintessential taste of summer, imparting a heavenly floral scent and taste to fizz
and a wide variety of cocktails. It’s so tasty that it’s a winner of both a Great Taste gold star and a
prestigious BOOM (Soil Association) award.

Sloe Gin, 35cl | RRP £24.95
On their farm in Oxfordshire, the blackthorn grows in abundance, away from roads and pollutants, and every year a bounteous crop of sloe berries is yielded. Their sloes are soaked, on-site, in organic Juniper Green gin, sweetened with organic sugar. They are then steeped in the gin for several months before being hand filtered and bottled. To enhance the fruitiness, they blend a hint of their blackcurrant liqueur in with the finished sloe gin.

Ashmolean Dry Gin, 70cl | RRP £41
This gin is flavoured with 17 botanicals including exotic jara lemon, rose, jasmine and species from the Middle East and Asia. Full tasting and juniper-led, with an intriguing note of cardamom and myrrh, it finishes with a clean and lingering taste of orris and lemongrass. The bottle illustration is ‘Spray of Morning Glory’, by Takeuchi Seiho (1864-1942), part of our Easter Art Collection. The gin base is distilled from ancient heritage grains, eschewing pesticides and chemical fertilisers, which helps contribute to an abundance of wildflowers, insects and birds on the farms where the grain is harvested.

Hi-res images available on request

ENDS
For more information, please contact Charlie Davey | charlie@likemindedpr.com

For inquiries regarding distribution and retail partnerships, please contact carrie.hickman@ashmus.ox.ac.uk.

EDITOR NOTES
ABOUT THE ASHMOLEAN
Founded in 1683, the Ashmolean is the University of Oxford’s Museum of art and archaeology and is the first public museum in the world. With a rich and varied collection of over 1.2 million objects spanning millennia, the world-famous collections range from Egyptian mummies to contemporary art, telling human stories across cultures and across time. Admission to the museum is free.

ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM | ROOFTOP RESTAURANT
Access and opening times
The rooftop terrace can be accessed from within the museum until 5pm or from the St. Giles entrance after 5.00pm, when the museum closes.

Venue Hire
A contemporary space overlooking the impressive Atrium, the Dining Room is ideal for business lunches and dinners, or a company celebration. There is a large terrace from which guests can enjoy views over the Oxford skyline and the lawn provides the perfect space for a pop-up bar in the summer. You could also treat your guests to a private view in the special exhibition galleries, which are just a few steps away.

Capacity
Reception 80
Dinner 70
Presentation 60

Brochure
Please CLICK HERE to view all venue hire options.

ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM | BRAND LICENSING
The Ashmolean Museum’s brand licensing activity has been represented since 2020 by Ian Downes at Start Licensing. The five new licensees who have recently come on board are:

Atlantic Mats who are developing a range of mats inspired by objects from the Museum. Atlantic Mats have developed a range of doormats and runners inspired by Ashmolean artefacts such as Iznik tiles and a Jali screen. The Museum has a set of 48 glazed ceramic tiles in its Eastern Art Collection whilst the Jali screen is part of a set of Mughal screens that the Museum believe were used to display Indian Art in the nineteenth century. Atlantic Mats products are made with components including regenerated nylon from waste such as fishing nets and the company has a heavy focus on being a sustainable business.

China Petals are developing a range of mosaic kits with designs inspired by artefacts from the Ashmolean Museum. The kits come with all the elements needed to complete a project including
mosaic tiles, grout and glue. There are three products in the Ashmolean range including a Flower Mosaic Coaster Kit with the featured design sourced from a block printed textile fragment and a
butterfly mosaic kit inspired by a design from the Museum’s Worcester Porcelain collection.

Jericho Coffee Traders are the latest beverage company to partner with Ashmolean. Coffee drinking has been a mainstay of Oxford life since the seventeenth century. Jericho Coffee Traders are based at the heart of Oxford’s High Street in a building that was one of the first coffee houses in the city. Inspired by this heritage, the Ashmolean has teamed up to present a special heritage blend. The blend is sold in a tin that features Turner’s painting of Oxford High Street which is part of the Ashmolean’s collection

The Indian Block Print Company is a successful Oxfordshire-based company producing the most exquisite block printing kits. The Ashmolean has a rich collection from South Asia, which is helping to inspire creativity. Each block is authentically carved in collaboration with Indian carvers using a sustainable model.

Gibson’s Organic Liqueurs are developing a range of Liqueurs using ingredients such as Crab Apples. Gibson’s are based in Oxfordshire. Gibson’s multi-awarding winning liqueurs are made using only fruit and flowers grown on their organic farm. They join a growing selection of food and drink licensees. The Ashmolean already work with locally based gin producer The Oxford Artisan Distillery, Hook Norton Brewery another local firm who have brewed an Ashmolean Ale and Team Tea another Oxfordshire based company who have created the Ashmolean Tea Blend.

Ian Downes from Start Licensing the Ashmolean’s licensing agency commented “It is very satisfying to see these new licensees come on board. They are joining a licensing programme that is enjoying great success both in qualitative and quantitative terms. Existing licensees such as Park London have delivered successful apparel collections across a range of retailers whilst Graphenstone Paints have picked up a number of industry awards for their Ashmolean paint collection. These new licensees dovetail well with some of the key objectives we have including working with local Oxfordshire businesses and being proactive where possible around sustainability. It is also great to be working with a number of ‘new to licensing’ companies — they bring fresh thinking and are reaching new market sectors. It is also good to see core categories like arts and crafts plus home interiors growing as well”.

Contact details:
For more details please contact: Ian Downes at Start Licensing ian@startlicensing.co.uk
For further details, or how to work with the Ashmolean please contact:
Dec McCarthy, Head of Publishing and Licensing: dec.mccarthy@ashmus.ox.ac.uk or Carrie Hickman,
Publishing and Licensing Manager: carrie.hickman@ashmus.ox.ac.uk