genuine switzerland.
genuine organic.
genuine more.
White Rabbit Gin, created in Switzerland, is a Swiss gentleman: elegant and worldly. For the distillation, done by the experienced Humbel destillery, we have used the best organic herbs, spices, fruits, flowers and vegetables.
As with all gins, juniper gives a good base. We have refined this with coriander seeds and angelica. On the tongue, the citrus note of mandarin is the first to appear, followed by the warm, spicy flavour of cardamom, ginger and the earthiness of carrot linger on. Accompanied by the floral tones of cornflower, the fruity hint of Gravensteiner rounds off White Rabbit Gin.
who is behind the "rabbit"
January 2021, a Sunday afternoon. Outside, temperatures around freezing. Inside, a small group sits together in the warm. A man stands at the cooker in the open kitchen and cooks a five-course meal. A woman serves the matching wine with each course. After the main course, the woman begins to talk about her idea: a gin, created entirely according to her own imagination.
The people around the table start talking about aromas and the appearance of the bottle and about who such a gin could be for. They also discuss the name of the gin and suggest all kinds of creative ideas - and just as quickly discard them.
A snow-white mini rabbit squats on a piece of carpet in a corner of the flat and sleeps. The man looks at the little animal and says: "White Rabbit Gin". "White Rabbit Gin?" "Yes, White Rabbit Gin." And the woman and the man know immediately: this will be a joint project.
lea denise zweifel
the woman
After my apprenticeships as a cook and then as a service assistant, I worked in the gastronomic industry for several years, for example at the Rigiblick restaurant in Zurich and as a bartender at the Rive Gauche Bar in the Baur au Lac Hotel. This was followed by a period in the organic trade, and since 2019 I have been working in the purchasing and sales department of an organic wine shop.
I discovered my love for gin when I was 25, and to this day I'm fascinated by its diversity of varieties and flavours. I usually bring a gin home from my journeys: Gin Gloria from Lake Garda, Six Dogs Blue from South Africa, Gin N° 1 from the Christmas market in Stuttgart or Alpen High from South Tyrol. Gin comes in many flavours; some can be completely changed just by adding a tonic.
When choosing the ingredients for the White Rabbit Gin, which are called botanicals in the trade, I was inspired by the menu of my rabbits, among other things: I chose the apple for the fruity note, the carrot contributes to an earthy tone, and the cornflower brings a touch of flowery meadow.
Lerne mehr über mich - den ersten Schweizer Bio-Gin mit Mehrwert
the man
thomas bissegger
I did my apprenticeship as a chef in a clinic in Aargau and then trained to become a certified chef. My career took me to many exciting places: in 2016 to New York to Daniel Humm, in 2017 to Cape Town to "The Test Kitchen" and to Myanmar, where I cooked at the Swiss Embassy. In 2019, the opportunity arose to take over as head chef of the restaurant "1904 - Aston Martin by Lagonda" in Zurich and to build up the restaurant, which today has 16 Gault Millau points and one Michelin star. Since 2021, I have been a specialist lecturer at the EHL Hotel Management School in Chur-Passugg, which was founded in 1966.
Gin is an ingredient in many of my favourite cocktails, such as the Negroni. To my delight, gin is also being used more and more in cooking recipes. What fascinates me about gin? The incredible variety of botanicals that can be used for it.
Just as Lea Denise appreciates local ingredients, I love working in the kitchen with spices and ingredients from faraway countries. Therefore, my choice of botanicals for the White Rabbit Gin fell on exotic products: The citrus note of the mandarin clearly stands out from that of the lemon or orange, ginger brings a slight spiciness, and with cardamom, which is called the "queen of spices" in India, we can almost smell the colourful spice market.
the "black edition"
an idea takes shape
In the months following the first appearance of White Rabbit Gin, the women and the man introduce it at various gin festivals. It gets many compliments, people like it. The frequently asked question about the black and white rabbit - it lives with the woman together with the white one - gives rise to the idea of a "Black Edition": as a facet of the White Rabbit Gin.
On 12 July 2022, a Tuesday morning, the woman and the man are standing in the tasting room of the Humbel destillery in Stetten. In front of them is the wall of shelves with many small bottles filled with possible botanicals.
The man has in mind an interplay of coffee and lime. "That's daring," says the woman. She rather feels like roasted almonds and rosemary. Both ask themselves whether the four ingredients can be combined harmoniously and yet expressively. The experiment begins. And little by little, the "Black Edition" takes shape, shows who it is.
the creation
the tasting
First of all, the nose is impressed by the interplay of juniper and roasted almonds: they let its tart aroma linger for a long time. The lime is just a faint tickle. And gradually the scent of rosemary and coffee penetrat.
On the palate, the juniper is the first to take up powerful space. Then the rosemary appears. It is followed by the freshness of the lime and the warm note of the coffee as well as a hint of cornelian cherry. And everything is held together harmoniously by the marigold.
The "Black Edition": A little daring - and more complex than one might expect.
the "rabbit" and the distillery
The Humbel speciality distillery has a large range of organic distillates that I have known for many years. It has been family-owned since it was founded in 1918 and distils the fruit for the farmers in the area and is also known for many of its own products, including award-winning ones. Luis Humbel has been at our side with his great experience throughout all the development steps.
From childhood on, my family grew vegetables, fruits, herbs and other food from organic cultivation. This is still important to me today: I want to know where the food I eat comes from and prefer to shop in small shops rather than in the supermarket. Or go directly to the organic farm.
And so it was a matter of course for me that all the raw materials and ingredients for the White Rabbit Gin are organically produced, partly processed myself or purchased processed in Switzerland. Yes, White Rabbit Gin is an organic gin all round.
i am even more
I think it makes sense to give discarded things a new purpose. This is called "upcycling". And so, whenever possible, I transform empty bottles into candle holders, for example, or - equipped with a pump head - into soap dispensers.
I wanted to do the same for the White Rabbit Gin bottle. And so it is designed without a paper label so that it can be reused: Simply attach the matt-black stainless steel pumphead (the original from pumphead.ch) that we include with the gin, fill it with liquid soap, washing-up liquid or lotion, and instead of ending up in the scrap glass, the White Rabbit Gin bottle has a new purpose - and remains in memory.
