🇬🇧 Our 1940s Legend

This 1940s Weekend, we'd like to tell you the story behind one of our most personal spirits.

Navigator Gin wasn't inspired by a ship.

It was inspired by a man.

Second Officer Raymond Collier – Sara's grandfather

During the Second World War, Ray served as the Navigator aboard RMS Queen Elizabeth. Originally built as the largest passenger ship in the world, she was transformed into a troopship and spent six years carrying Allied servicemen safely across the world's oceans.

The date of the Queen Elizabeth's first wartime voyage was a closely guarded secret. Nobody was supposed to know when she would sail.

But somehow, Ray managed to get a message to his wife, Joan.

Knowing that this could be the last time they would ever see one another, Joan travelled to Clydesdale to see him.

There were no promises they would meet again.

Like so many young couples during the war, they had no idea what lay ahead. They simply hugged goodbye and held onto hope.

It's impossible to imagine the sacrifices made by that generation. Not just by those who served, but by the families who waved them off, never knowing whether they would ever see them again.

When we created Navigator Gin, we wanted it to be more than just a bottle. We wanted it to be a tribute to Ray, to Joan, and to a generation whose courage and sacrifice gave us the freedoms we enjoy today.

And perhaps our favourite part of the story comes more than 80 years later.

Today, while the original Queen Elizabeth is long gone, her name lives on aboard HMS Queen Elizabeth, the largest ship ever built for the Royal Navy. By a wonderful coincidence, one of her officers is from Lytham, and whenever he's home, he stops by the distillery to collect a few bottles of Navigator Gin to share with his fellow crew members.

We like to think Ray would have smiled at that.

This weekend, as we admire the vintage vehicles, uniforms and music of the 1940s, let's also take a moment to remember the ordinary people who lived through extraordinary times—and the stories of love, hope and courage that deserve never to be forgotten.