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Aureus Vita has been a long time coming but an award-winning Cornwall-based distillery has announced the first genuine innovation in gin distilling since the legendary Carter-Head Still saw the light of day. John Hall, head distiller, is in the process of patenting his Fibonacci-Hall Still that is the key to the unique flavor experience of this astonishing new drink: AUREUS VITA. The secret ingredient is a mathematical pattern found everywhere from nature to art, architecture to music.
It is the Golden Ratio—the magic number being 1:1.618—that Hall has skillfully applied to AUREUS VITA. “I thought—what if I take the entire gin production process and apply the Golden Ratio to all of it?” The three processes involved in making gin are maceration where you take the botanicals, alcohol, and water and extract the flavor; distillation where you concentrate that flavor; and then dilution.
John built a new kind of still where the Golden Ratio came to life within three distinct distillation phases where each botanical is treated individually, but in the same still. The resulting product is a gin which is diluted to an ABV of 61.8%. The reason for this very precise figure is that it is one of two ABVs achieved when the water and alcohol ratio is exactly 1:1.618. The other is 38.2%. Why does this matter?
“Because I’m extracting so much more flavor from the botanicals in this unique and groundbreaking still, I chose 61.8%, resulting in a premium drink, AUREUS VITA, that possesses so many more flavours and a more impactful finish than the average London Dry.”
John explains that it all comes down to the appliance of science. He is a chemist by training with a passion for distilled spirits. “I personally believe that having a science background makes you a better distiller”. Some may imagine that gin making is just about randomly mixing alcohol, water, and some botanicals, to create a drinkable spirit. But with the determination of an alchemist, John has spent years seeking the right balance of ingredients to distil the perfect product. He even consulted scientific journals during this painstaking odyssey.
His efforts paid off. John discovered that almost unwittingly he had been combining all the elements in his gin-distilling in line with the Golden Ratio. For those who struggled with physics and chemistry at school, the explanation may seem a bit daunting. But to make it simple, the Golden Ratio is a number observed in nature that expresses a perfect balance. You can see it in the pattern of flowers, shells, and pinecones. It has inspired thinkers across the arts and sciences for thousands of years.
When he first established his distillery, John developed a London Dry Gin, Trevethan 1929, that won industry gold medals in 2021 and 2022. Then an investor asked John if he could develop a gin for somebody in the world of Bitcoin preoccupied with numbers. Crypto market operatives reference the Golden Ratio, and the mathematical Fibonacci Sequence based on it, to trade successfully. What surprised John is that when he applied these principles to his gin distilling, he found that he had already been guided by these equations and numbers without realising it.
Instead of the usual three to four flavor notes, the new Fibonacci Dry Gin is a taste explosion with nine to ten flavor notes. John admits that consumers have been treated over the last few years to lots of new brands, fruits, colors, and flavors, but nothing by way of genuine innovation. “This will give the consumer and the mixologist real versatility in a gin that can feature in a full-blown Martini to a low ABV G&T.”
AUREUS VITA is a premium gin for two reasons. One is the distilling in this unique Fibonacci-Hall Still, which means that quantities will be limited each year—in effect creating an annual vintage. That will be compounded by the fact that AUREUS VITA relies on two key botanicals harvested in the autumn, with John insisting they must be used while still “vibrant”. These two ingredients are juniper and the fruit of the Baobab tree, a very distinctive-looking tree native to Madagascar, the African mainland, and Australia, which produces a nutrient-rich fruit. The idea for using it came from the company’s sales director, Marc, who grew up in Kenya and recalls being given baobab fruit as a special treat when he was a child. In Africa, it is known as the “tree of life”.
“I’d never heard of this tree before,” John says, “but combined with the Golden Ratio, it just felt like something we had to try.” The flavor combination did not disappoint. But the production process, together with an insistence on using these botanicals shortly after harvesting, meant that in 2024, about 3,000 units of AUREUS VITA was available for the market. This lends it a definite cachet.
The result of John’s labors is an undeniable premium product, with a scarcity value, designed to impress those seeking a luxury drinking experience. It’s unashamedly aimed at the affluent consumer who will hopefully pause to consider the craftsmanship and innovation that has gone into AUREUS VITA. There is no exaggeration to state that John regards his product as almost a work of art. Not something to be rushed—but instead savored.
