Yiayia Gin began with a simple conversation and has grown into something extraordinary. A collaboration with Zoe at Shed One Distillery, it recently won Gold at the 2024 Great British Food Awards, with Michelin-starred chef Adam Handling praising it as “an excellent gin with elegance and complexity, floral, delicate and fragrant, with Mediterranean flavours.”
This gin is a women-led creation, distilled, blended, and bottled by Zoe, Lindsay, and Thea of Shed One, together with me. Every element — from the botanicals to the label — carries a female handprint. And its story has even been captured in art: artist Olga Houghton painted Yiayia Gin on canvas, a work I later gifted to Shed One to celebrate our collaboration.
The flavours are rooted in my birthplace, Crete. Lemon pelargonium, used in Greek kitchens to perfume candied grapes; lemon leaves, wrapped around pork belly and grilled on coals; wild oregano gathered from the mountains; vine and fig leaves — the same that once impressed the MasterChef judges in my final dessert. Each ingredient is a note from home, carrying memory and meaning.
As for the name, it was my step-grandchildren who suggested “Yiayia.” I cherish it when they call me that — the word feels sweeter, more affectionate. It also carries me back to my own grandmothers’ kitchens, where I hovered as a child, rewarded with little bites as I watched them bake and cook.
Yiayia Gin honours all grandmothers — their strength, generosity, and wisdom. For me, it is a way of keeping alive the spirit of the women who shaped me: their hard work, their joy of food, and their appreciation for good ingredients. To raise a glass of Yiayia Gin is to raise a glass to them.
You can buy Yiayia Gin from select stores and Shed One direct.