Brian May partners with Portobello Road Distillery for new gin

Queen guitarist Brian May has partnered with Portobello Road Distillery to launch Red Special Gin. The collaboration, described as an authentic creative partnership rather than a standard celebrity endorsement, involved May working directly with the distillery to develop the recipe.

The gin features botanicals including juniper, liquorice root, aromatic sage, and calamansi orange, the latter of which May grows in his own greenhouse. The product is designed with a vintage-inspired bottle featuring a sixpence set into the lid, referencing May’s well-known use of a sixpence as a guitar pick.

Each bottle is sequentially numbered to increase collectability; May will hold bottle number 000001, while the distillery will retain 000002. The gin is scheduled to launch via the distillery’s webstore on 8 October 2026.