Somewhere high on a hill is a man who makes gin, Sacred Gin. That man is Ian Hart, that hill is Highgate, and the gin is a real London gin and utterly delectable to boot.

From the outside it looks like any other family home in this North London suburb of large square houses. But inside this house holds a special secret, there are glass flasks and coils, rubber tubes, liquid nitrogen streams and many unusual liquids bubbling about - from darkest amber to purest crystal clear - because, in this house, a master distiller is at work.

Before I got there I was a little unsure of quite what I’d find – a small factory distillery perhaps? – and was quite delighted to discover this sort of overgrown chemistry lab in a back kitchen, with the pump housed in the garden shed (all properly authorised and certified of course). Although it may look like a mad scientist kind of set up, Ian is more like a flavour alchemist, and the spirit he produces is about as far from home brew as a vintage champagne is from Strongbow.

Ian has always loved wine and spirits, he’s been collecting wine since he was 18, and has a fine, fine palate, coupled with a passion and curiosity that has urged him into setting up this boutique micro distillery.

And when I say passion I really do mean passion, he has created this very unique gin using an ancient gin recipe and a lot of trial and error. Nothing is automated, it is all done by hand, with a care and attention to detail that shines through in the final product.

And I’m not the only one who thinks so, Ian has been nominated for spirit producer of the year, and Sacred Gin is for sale in Fortnum’s and on the bar of the Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, amongst many others.

Each of the 12 different botanicals are distilled separately to maintain their individual flavours, first in a hand warm distil (no overheating here to burn the flavours), then a cold one and finally a nitrogen super cooled one. This means that every subtlety in the flavour is extracted, and because they are mixed post distillation you really can taste the individual flavours as they bloom in the mouth.

I came to find out about the gin, but soon we were onto vodka (Sacred Vodka coming soon, he’s just perfecting the recipe, lucky me I got to do some tasting and even take a bottle of version 2 home!) and distilled wine, pear eau de vie, sloe and damson gin and discussing the possibilities of Christmas pudding vodka – and that’s not just Christmas pudding steeped in a bottle of vodka as most of us would make it, oh no, he would distil the very essence of Christmas pudding to blend with his vodka. Honestly the man is a distilling wizard, constantly experimenting and expanding his repertoire, all for the love of distilling. If you took teens into his kitchen I bet they’d be taking up their chemistry classes like a shot.

Of course you understand all of these glasses were only teeny, actually very lovely antique gin glasses, and sipped at delicately. Which is how come I am still able to type…

Oh, and all done in the name of research.

It’s a hard life sometimes spending my Saturday afternoon sitting with delightful people (his partner Hilary joined us), trying an array of marvellous spirits and chatting about tastes and flavours, but I’ve been out there battling on to bring you news of a wonderful local product, a genuine local producer and what I think is a perfect Christmas present for foodies and spirit lovers alike.

Right, that’s me off to mix what just might be the perfect martini…

Sacred Gin ~ £26 a bottle from Fortnums or online at www.sacredspiritscompany.com