The Master of Spirits: Simon Ford
Simon Ford is the dynamic and passionate entrepreneur behind Fords Gin. After perfecting his skills for over 20 years in bartending and hospitality, he decided to put all his knowledge and experience to good use by creating a superior gin for bartenders – made by a bartender. His crowning achievement is a sublime spirit made with the finest exotic ingredients sourced from all over the world. To hear him explain his meticulous approach to each painstaking distilling detail is to see a man completely immersed and dedicated to his craft. Onassis and Fords Gin recently embarked on a clothing capsule collaboration that melds the creative and design ethos of both brands. The different pieces in the capsule will be unveiled at a launch event at the Onassis Soho flagship on October 13th. Even though Mr. Ford is constantly jetting from one city to the next, we were able to track him down long enough for an intriguing conversation about fine spirits, the Onassis collab project and much more. See it below:
You were a top bartender for many years. What made you decide to take the plunge and create your own brand of spirits?
Great bartenders are really creative people who work hard to invent interesting cocktails and perfect how they make existing classics. They learn the ins and outs of the ingredients available to them and even create their own. Their main skill is hospitality and they serve hundreds if not thousands of patrons a week, observing what they are enjoying. It is these very bartenders that inspired me to take the jump into making spirits. I looked to the professional craft bartender friends I had made over my 20 years in this industry for ideas on what would make good spirits for mixing since the majority of drinks are served as cocktails and other mixed drinks. Many modern spirits brands are created by marketing departments for specific consumer demographics. Our distillers made our spirits with the guidance and feedback of professional bartenders. I think it’s a unique approach and it took us several years to develop the spirits this way. But I think it was worth it as the spirits are winning awards and I have seen them being used in many of the bars that I consider to be the best in the world.
You describe Fords Gin as a “Jack of all Trades.” Can you explain exactly what that means?
The recipe for Fords Gin started as a flavor map that looked at different gin botanicals and the classic cocktails their flavors would pair well with. Fords Gin contains botanicals that work well in as many classic cocktails as possible. For example, we have botanicals that pair well with lime making Fords Gin good for mixing in cocktails such as the Rickey and the Gimlet. Likewise, we have botanicals that work well with lemon making Fords good for drinks such as the Tom Collins and the 20th Century Cocktail. We put jasmine in the recipe as it pairs well with honey, helping Fords taste good in a Bee’s Knees. From those examples you can see where this is going. The idea was to make sure that Fords Gin tasted good and paired with as many ingredients commonly found in gin cocktails as possible, making it a good go-to all-around mixing gin.
Fords Gin is made with a host of exotic, high quality botanicals. Was this a deliberate decision on your part?
Absolutely, because the better your ingredients are, the better the end product will be. Juniper is the most important ingredient in Fords Gin, accounting for almost half the recipe, so it was extremely important for us to make sure we have the best juniper available. Since the best juniper in world comes from Italy, that is where the juniper berries for Fords Gin are sourced from. We apply this philosophy to all of the ingredients used to make the Fords Gin recipe. Our cassia is sourced from Indonesia which is home to the best cassia in the world; our jasmine comes from China and the grapefruit from Turkey. Without mentioning all of the ingredients, you can start to see the reason why we state cheekily on the label that “It Doesn’t Take An Empire To Make A Gin” because the truth is, it does.
Can you also speak briefly about the innovative and thoughtful design of the Fords Gin bottle?
Since bartenders are pouring hundreds of drinks each night we wanted to make our bottle easy to use behind the bar. This involved consulting over 150 professional bartenders and committing to making a bottle about functionality over form. The designer we worked with had previously worked on the design of several water bottles. Water bottle companies have been really progressive about the design of their bottles. They have reduced the amount of glass or plastic used for environmental reasons and studied the ergonomics of how comfortable they feel in your hand. We started with that approach but also looked at liquid flow, how well it would fit in a speed rail behind the bar and we made sure the bottle has several places where you could grip it for people who have different styles of bartending. This has paid off as we see our bottle being reused everywhere for everything from water service at the table to storing fresh juices and syrups behind the bar. The fact that our bottles are constantly being repurposed makes me feel really good that we put all of this effort into the bottle design.
What are some of the accolades and distinctions Fords Gin has received that you’re the most proud of?
Perhaps my favorite moment was being awarded the Chairman’s Trophy at the Ultimate Spirits Challenge in 2013 when Fords Gin scored a whopping 96 points (the highest for any gin in the competition that year). That was the first year we entered any competitions. The judges at the Ultimate Spirits Challenge gathered that year included many of the people I respect most in the industry. Their approval meant more to me than winning the actual award but that felt good also.
So we have to ask you this. What would you say are your top 3 gin cocktails of all time?
This is a really tough question to answer because gin can claim so many of the most famous classic cocktails and I am quite fond of most of them. I can however tell you my three personal favorites. They are…
THE MARTINI — Not only is it the most famous cocktail of them all, it is also one of the most delicious when served well. Even though it is a drink made from only a few ingredients (gin, vermouth, ice, optional bitters and a garnish) it is a drink that is the result of 150 years of cocktail evolution. The beauty of the martini is, despite its simplicity, with some experimentation you can find your favorite way to have your martini served and a good bartender should be able to give you that. I personally like mine to be two parts Fords Gin, one part dry vermouth and a dash of orange bitters stirred then served with a lemon twist (and some olives served on the side are a nice bonus).
THE NEGRONI — It’s a mix of three ingredients: gin, Campari and sweet red vermouth. The complexity of flavor these ingredients provide when mixed together is overwhelming, powerful and one of the most rewarding taste experiences of any cocktail. Some find this drink an acquired taste because of its bitter finish but the finish is the reason why the people that love this drink really love it. For me, it is the quintessential aperitif cocktail.
THE TOM COLLINS — It’s a long and refreshing drink that is very seasonal whilst still being a sophisticated cocktail with a great history. It hails from London in the mid-1800’s and is a simple mix of gin, fresh squeezed lemon juice, sugar and soda water.
Moving on to the present apparel collab with NYC menswear brand Onassis, why did you think it was a worthy project for Fords?
Up until this collaboration we hadn’t made a single item of clothing for Fords Gin. My feeling was that just branding a t-shirt didn’t feel right for us and I always knew that I would like someone in fashion to do something with the design elements from our label so that any branded wearable we had would be well designed and of good quality. The first reason I liked the idea of the collaboration with Onassis was the attention to design detail that Onassis Clothing values. I have always found that attention to detail, even if it’s for the tiniest part of the design, makes a big difference. If you look closely at the Fords Gin label, you’ll see we tried to pay a lot of attention to detail. There are many graphic elements on our label that tell our story that someone in clothing design could have a field day with. In discovering more about the ethos behind Onassis there are actually some really nice similarities between our two companies. I noticed that Onassis spends a lot of time sourcing the right fabrics and materials and has a respect for classic traditions while still pushing clothing design forward. Those ideals are very similar to how we approach making Fords Gin. We spend a lot of time sourcing ingredients and I really wanted to respect the traditional styles and methods of gin production whilst doing something that was forward thinking for the industry. Because of these synergies, I think this is going to be an enjoyable project and a great relationship between the two brands.
The collab pieces came out really nicely: the all-over elephant print t-shirt, the basic logo tee, the windbreakers and the logo crewneck sweatshirt. What is your personal favorite out of the bunch?
Another tough question. I love the white t-shirt because the material and fit are so great – and I like the stamp of the umbrellas saying ‘Dry Gin.’ I also really like the Malcolm for its comfortable style and the message ‘Found In Gin Joints’ is so appropriate for me. With that said, my favorite has to be the blue windbreaker. It’s just a cool piece of clothing and because the Fords Gin elephant print is only found in the lining. I like that subtlety of branding as well.
By the way, speaking of that printed t-shirt, what is the symbology behind the ‘elephant’ in the Fords Gin packaging?
The elephant is a symbol of travel which I thought would be appropriate for a gin label where the ingredients of that gin are sourced from nine countries around the globe. If you look closely at the label, you will find that one of the elephants has its trunk pointing upwards which is a symbol of good luck, a nice thing to toast when you are drinking a cocktail.
What has the feedback been from your clients, vendors, brand ambassadors about these Fords X Onassis pieces?
We have kept it quite quiet until now, only showing the Dry Gin t-shirt to industry friends, but we have had an overwhelming response and there has already been high demand from people asking us for them. So I am positive the rest of the line is going to be just as well-received. Most swag in this day and age are not quality pieces like this, so I have a feeling we might be setting a new standard with this collaboration.
You are a man constantly on the move – LA, NYC, London, etc. What’s your favorite city to be in and why?
I love big cities and my two favorite cities in the world are London and New York. London is a cultural center of music, art, fashion and one of the most multinational places in the world. It is always at the forefront of the culinary and cocktail scenes. New York is like London, but on steroids.
So you’ve probably been told several times before that you’re a skilled & savvy conversationalist. Is this a trait you picked up as a bartender or have you always been an unabashed lover of people?
I’ve never been told that, but I have been told that I talk too much. All of my favorite bartenders have giant personalities and the ability to make everything positive through skilled and savvy communication, so maybe that is something I have picked up from working in bars or hanging around bartenders for the past 20 years. I have always preached that the number one job of the bartender is to make the person who has just walked in feel just a little better than they did before they entered. The customer might be at the bar to commiserate or celebrate, they might have just lost their job or just won the lottery. You never know what you are going to be hit with and the bartender’s job is to make things just that little bit better. I once watched a bartender stop a bar fight by holding a banana like a gun shouting, “don’t make me use this.” It even made the guys fighting laugh. That’s a savvy conversationalist.
Lastly what are your expectations going forward for the Onassis X Fords Gin collab, and what surprises can we expect from your spirits brand in the near future?
Bartenders, for the most part, are very cool people, and I like the idea that Fords Gin can introduce them to Onassis through this collaboration. On the flip side, I like the idea that the Onassis regulars might discover a great gin to drink through this collaboration. As for surprises, in the next few months we are about to launch a ‘green’ initiative for Fords Gin. In an effort to encourage the reuse and recycling of our bottles we have created a green glass version that bartenders can reuse to store lime juice. To help spread this message, we’ll be touring the USA with our friends from London’s renowned White Lyan, teaching bars how to introduce sustainability into their everyday operations.
See the slideshow below with the Onassis X Fords Gin items. Click on the item to purchase.
[slideshow_deploy id=’643′]
