Taking gin somewhere a little less obvious.

One of the most fun creative detours I’ve taken with Tayla Made Food came through a campaign with Beefeater, created to promote their Gin & Tonic Festival at the Old Biscuit Mill.

The package arrived with a bottle of Beefeater Blood Orange Gin, aromatics, two Copa de Balón gin glasses, a tote bag and a hat.

It was only the first of two alcohol campaigns I’ve ever worked on, so I wanted to use it as an opportunity to really test myself creatively.

Gin is one of those spirits that can very easily fall into the same familiar flavour territory, so I knew from the beginning that I didn’t want to create three variations of a standard gin and tonic.

I wanted to see how far I could push the flavour profile while still keeping the drinks balanced, approachable and, most importantly, delicious.

THE CREATIVE PROCESS

The Blood Orange Gin already had such a strong citrus identity, so instead of fighting that, I used it as the foundation and started thinking about what could complement it in less expected ways.

Herbs.

Spice.

Fresh vegetables.

Warm aromatics.

Rather than treating gin as something that only works with tonic, citrus and berries, I wanted each cocktail to show a completely different side of the spirit.

The end result was three drinks that felt distinct from one another, both in flavour and visually.

CARDAMOM & ROSEMARY GIN FIZZ

The first cocktail combined cardamom and rosemary with the Blood Orange Gin.

I loved the contrast between the bright citrus of the gin, the warmth of the cardamom and the almost piney freshness of rosemary.

It was aromatic, refreshing and a little unexpected, without becoming complicated for the sake of it.

This was one of those combinations that sounded interesting in my head and turned out even better in the glass.

SPICY FROZEN GIN MARGARITA

The second cocktail was probably the biggest departure from a traditional gin serve.

I created a spicy frozen gin margarita with jalapeño, basil and cucumber.

Cool cucumber and basil kept it fresh, while jalapeño brought in just enough heat to completely change the personality of the drink.

Using gin in a frozen margarita-style cocktail also made the spirit feel much more playful and versatile.

It was cold, spicy, herbaceous and incredibly refreshing.

Exactly the kind of drink I’d happily make again now.

ORANGE & SAGE GIN SOUR

For the final cocktail, I leaned back into the orange notes of the gin and paired them with sage.

The result was an orange and sage gin sour that felt slightly more grown-up than the other two.

Sage added an earthy, savoury quality that balanced the sweetness and citrus beautifully, while the sour format gave the drink that silky, polished finish.

It was familiar enough to understand immediately, but different enough to make you stop and think about the flavours.

MAKING GIN FEEL MULTI-DIMENSIONAL

What I enjoyed most about this campaign was realising how much creative room there was within one bottle.

The same gin could become something aromatic and herbaceous, something frozen and spicy, or something silky and citrus-forward.

That was the whole exercise for me.

Not simply making drinks that looked good, but showing that gin could have more range than the standard combinations we tend to default to.

Even looking back at these recipes now, I wouldn’t change much.

They are all cocktails I would genuinely recreate, which is probably the best sign that the experimentation worked.

THE VISUALS

This campaign was also one of those moments where the finished photography made me particularly proud.

Cocktails gave me a completely different set of textures and visual elements to play with — condensation, ice, glassware, fresh herbs, citrus, colour and movement.

The Blood Orange Gin itself gave everything such a beautiful base palette, and I could build each image around the personality of the drink.

The photographs felt vibrant, polished and intentional.

And, just like the recipes themselves, none of them felt like three versions of the same idea.

THE TAKEAWAY

This campaign reminded me that the creative process gets much more interesting when you stop asking:

“What is normally done with this?”

and start asking:

“What else could this become?”

Beefeater gave me the chance to take one product and explore it in three completely different directions.

And in doing that, I discovered just how multi-dimensional gin could be.

No boring serves.

No predictable pairings.

Just really good drinks, interesting flavours and a chance to push my creativity somewhere new.