In The Loop Drinks: The UK's First English Vermouthery at Crowborough
Tucked into the slopes of the solar-powered Downsview vineyard in Crowborough, East Sussex, In The Loop Drinks is doing something quietly remarkable in the British drinks scene. The team call themselves the UK's first English Vermouthery - a specialist winery dedicated to producing aromatised, fortified English wines that draw exclusively on English-grown fruit and English botanicals. The result is a tight, award-winning range of vermouths and bottled cocktails that are as rooted in their local landscape as any Pinot from a Hampshire chalk pit or a Bacchus from the Weald.
The whole operation runs on-site at Crowborough, with the winery powered by its own solar array and every botanical either grown on the property, foraged from the surrounding Sussex countryside, or sourced from other British growers. As head winemaker and director Gnina Balchin - a food scientist and oenologist - explains, the aim is to combine flavour chemistry with oenological science to produce drinks that are exceptionally well balanced and show off every ingredient in the glass.
The story behind the name
The brand name says it all. In The Loop Drinks was founded on a simple but powerful idea: keep English wine from being wasted by giving it a second life as English Vermouth. Base wines that are not quite right for English Sparkling - perhaps the wrong balance, the wrong vintage, or simply surplus production - are taken in, flavoured with botanicals, fortified, and bottled as vermouth. The wine stays in the circular economy. In other words, it stays in the loop.
This ethos runs through everything the winery does. From the FSC-recycled card gift boxes to the biodegradable Eco-flo void filler in their shipping packaging, the team deliberately rejects virgin materials and chooses recyclable, reusable or compostable alternatives wherever they can. They are explicit about the philosophy: more responsibility should sit with the producer, not the consumer, and they want to do what is right, not what is easy.
A visit to the winery
The winery is based at Downsview vineyard, Hadlow Down Road, Crowborough, East Sussex, TN6 3RG. It is a working site rather than a high-street shop, but the team welcome visitors by prior arrangement via admin@intheloopdrinks.co.uk. For trade enquiries, founder Gnina Balchin can be reached at the same address.
Crowborough itself sits high on the eastern edge of the High Weald, within easy reach of Tunbridge Wells, Uckfield and the Ashdown Forest. The Downsview vineyard is one of several small producers that have helped put Sussex on the modern English wine map, and pairing it with a vermouth house is a natural extension of the county's growing reputation for cool-climate wine.
Sustainability: the journey to net zero
In The Loop Drinks describes its approach as a journey to net zero, not a finished destination. The three pillars are clear:
Mindful packaging
The team works constantly to lessen the negative impact of every box, label and void fill they ship. Packaging is chosen for being biodegradable, made from reclaimed materials, or being reusable or recyclable in turn. Gift boxes use FSC recycled card, and the Eco-flo void filler is fully compostable. The aim, in their own words, is to reduce both the consumption of virgin materials and the production of waste.
The integrity of the ingredients
Every drop of base wine is rescued English wine that would otherwise have been surplus or unsold. Fresh botanicals - wormwood, herbs, flowers, fruits, barks and roots - are grown on the property or foraged from the surrounding countryside, never taken in greater quantity than the land can support. The winemaking team partners with local distilleries for the neutral spirit backbone of the bottled cocktails.
Smart production
The winery is solar-powered and the team are careful with water and energy at every stage. They have actively rejected some industry-standard processes that they consider too energy hungry, including the standard cold-stabilisation procedure, finding lower-impact alternatives that protect both the wine and the planet.
What is English Vermouth?
Vermouth is a fortified, aromatised wine. In The Loop fortify their English base wines to around 16% ABV and then infuse them with a complex blend of botanicals - herbs, roots, barks, flowers, seeds and citrus peels - to create a drink that works as both an aperitif and a digestif.
The most famous botanical, and the one that gives vermouth its name, is wormwood (Artemisia absinthium), long associated with digestive health and the original medicinal "wormwood wines" attributed to Hippocrates around 400 BCE. In the 19th and 20th centuries, vermouth evolved from a medicinal tonic into a sophisticated aperitif, popularised by brands such as Dolin, Noilly Prat and Martini. Today, with the gin renaissance exposing drinkers to botanically driven drinks, vermouth is enjoying its own quiet revival - and English Vermouth is leading the charge.
Like a good gin, English Vermouth works three ways: long, over ice with a premium tonic; short, in a stirred classic such as a Martini or Negroni; or simply chilled and neat as an aperitif.
The In The Loop range
The current range is small, considered and built around the idea that every bottle of English wine deserves a purpose. All products are available to buy directly from the In The Loop online shop, with free UK delivery on orders over £30.
Barrel-aged Semi-sweet Red English Vermouth - From £21.95
The flagship red vermouth is barrel-aged and built around English red wine, infused with wormwood and a host of native botanicals. It is the bottle to reach for when making a Negroni or a Manhattan, and it rewards being sipped neat over ice with a twist of orange. Semi-sweet, gently bitter and unmistakably English.
View the Semi-sweet Red Vermouth
Extra Dry White English Vermouth - From £21.95
The Extra Dry is the white counterpart, designed to be crystalline, bone-dry and intensely botanical. It is the bottle the team recommend for a Vodka Martini or a Gin & Vermouth & Tonic. With its lean profile and savoury finish, it slips effortlessly into the classic cocktail canon.
View the Extra Dry White Vermouth
Orange Negroni - From £25.00
A bottled, ready-to-drink cocktail that fuses Sussex gin, In The Loop's English Vermouth and bright orange peel. It is, quite simply, a Negroni in a bottle - pour over ice, garnish with an orange wedge and you have the definitive British bitter aperitif without needing to stock Campari and a mixing glass.
Cocktail Gift Pack - £14.00
Three 50ml mini bottles, ready to drink over ice. The pack is the perfect introduction to the In The Loop style for a curious friend or a weekend host, and it slots beautifully into a stocking or a thank-you basket.
In The Loop Gift Card - From £30.00
For the drinker who has everything, a digital gift card redeemable against any product in the shop.
How to drink In The Loop vermouth
The team's own recommendations give a good sense of how versatile these bottles are.
Vermouth & Tonic
Fill a large wine glass with ice, add 50ml of the Extra Dry White English Vermouth, top with a premium English tonic (the team recommend Folkingtons English Garden) and garnish with a wedge of fresh lime. It is, in their words, "a drink of satisfying simplicity."
G, V & T (Gin, Vermouth & Tonic)
Fill a large glass with ice, add 50ml gin, 50ml Extra Dry Vermouth and 300ml tonic water, stir gently and finish with a wedge of fresh lime. The In The Loop team suggest Mermaid Gin for the pairing, but any decent English craft gin will lift the botanicals in the vermouth.
Vodka Martini
The house recipe is stirred, not shaken. Combine 50ml English vodka (they use Bourne 33) with 50ml Extra Dry White English Vermouth and a little ice, stir until properly chilled, strain into a frozen martini glass and serve with an olive. Classic, clean and very English.
Negroni
Equal parts gin, Campari and Semi-sweet Red English Vermouth, stirred over ice and garnished with orange. Or skip the bar work entirely and pour the Orange Negroni straight from the bottle.
The recipe library
Beyond the simple serves, In The Loop runs an extensive cocktail and food recipe collection built around their vermouths. Cocktail highlights include:
- The Bronx - a 1900s Waldorf-Astoria classic marrying dry gin with both vermouths and a splash of fresh orange juice.
- ITL's Watermelon Negroni - a Summery muddle of watermelon, mint, gin, vermouth and Campari, designed for crushed-ice serves.
- Strawberry Martini - strawberries, gin, dry rosé vermouth and a touch of sugar syrup, shaken and garnished with basil.
- Rhubarb & Fennel Cocktail - fennel-infused dry vermouth, rhubarb, lemon and gin, built on the old adage that what grows together goes together.
- New York Sour - rye whiskey, red vermouth, lemon, maple, egg white and a float of red wine.
- Frozen Negroni - gin, vermouth, Campari, orange juice and fresh ginger syrup frozen into a slushie.
- Popcorn Sours - a rum-and-vermouth showstopper with popcorn syrup, lemon and egg white.
- Rose Negroni - a floral Valentine's twist using rosé vermouth and Lanique Rose Spirit.
- Smokey Tea Sour - bourbon, rosé vermouth and Lapsang Souchong tea, for an atmospheric winter serve.
- The Corpse Reviver - Strega, vermouth, lemon and orange bitters, the classic hair-of-the-dog aperitif.
- Fortified Fizz - vermouth and Prosecco lengthened with ice and fresh orange.
- Christmas Spritzer - cranberry, orange, vodka, vermouth and Prosecco, the ultimate festive pitcher.
- In The Loop Winter Spritz - Pinot Noir rosé vermouth, Prosecco and grapefruit soda.
- Cranberry Martini - vodka, orange liqueur, dry vermouth and cranberry juice, the easy "Crantini".
- Sloegroni - sloe gin, Campari and No. 3, garnished with rosemary and blood orange.
- Cane & In The Loop - golden rum, semi-sweet red vermouth, triple sec and lemon.
- Golden Highball - golden rum, dry white vermouth, ginger ale and a twist of citrus.
- 7 Counties Negroni - a Sussex-Hampshire-Cotswolds love letter featuring Mermaid gin and Cotswolds whisky amaro.
- Popcorn Old Fashioned - hazelnut rum, Chardonnay vermouth and popcorn syrup.
- Strawberries & Cream - a blender drink blending rosé vermouth, gin, strawberry ice-cream and bitters.
- Bianco Refresher - vermouth, vodka and elderflower liqueur.
- The Americano - Campari, vermouth and soda, the 1860s Milanese classic.
- Paloma Vermouth - pink grapefruit, lime and vermouth, finished with a salted rim.
- The Manhattan - rye, sweet vermouth and bitters.
- Negroni - equal parts gin, Campari and sweet vermouth, served on the rocks.
The food recipe section is equally inventive, pairing vermouth into mains and desserts from Normandy chicken with apples and crème fraîche, to shellfish bisque, mushroom risotto, apple crumble with salted caramel sauce, vermouth and plum semifreddo, chicken liver parfait and even amaretto sours pastilles and negroni gummy sweets. It is one of the most food-forward recipe collections in the English drinks scene.
Where to buy In The Loop Drinks
The most reliable way to buy is direct from the In The Loop online shop, where UK delivery is free over £30 (a £2 charge applies under that threshold) and orders are dispatched within two to three working days via Royal Mail 48-hour tracked or APC next-day for larger orders.
For those who prefer to buy in person, current UK stockists include:
Brighton & Hove
- 9 Vines, Woodland Parade
- Brighto'n Your Spirit, Sydney Street
East Sussex
- Barley Sugar Deli, Cornfield Terrace, Eastbourne
- Downsview Vineyard, Crowborough
- Fine Wines of Mayfield (Mayfield and Tunbridge Wells shops)
- Harvey's Brewery Shop, High Street, Lewes
- Kinsbrook Vineyard, Pulborough
- One Garden Brighton, Stanmer Park
- Palate Bottle Shop, Brunswick Road, Shoreham-by-Sea (Vermouth only)
- Sarah's Cellar, Tills Yard, Battle
- South Downs Heritage Centre / Tates of Sussex, Hassocks
- Waitrose, Eastbourne
- Notcutts Ditchling (Cocktail gift packs only)
West Sussex & Surrey borders
- Waitrose, Haywards Heath and Horsham (Vermouth only)
- Notcutts Tunbridge Wells (Cocktail gift packs only)
- The Artful Grocer, Wadhurst (Vermouth only)
London
- Flat Earth Pizza, Bethnal Green (Vermouth only)
National Trust sites
In The Loop vermouths are stocked across a range of National Trust properties, including Birling Gap and the Seven Sisters, Ightham Mote, Knole, Petworth House and Park, Scotney Castle, Sheffield Park and Garden, Sissinghurst Castle Garden and Standen House and Garden.
Wholesale
Three wholesalers carry the range for trade buyers: Burgundy Wines Ltd., Novel Wines (Vermouth only) and Diverse Fine Foods. Online, the brand can also be found at Melted Inside and Resident Artisan.
Visiting, tasting and shipping
Visits to the Crowborough winery are by prior arrangement. Email admin@intheloopdrinks.co.uk to organise a tour or tasting. The team keep a low profile on dedicated public tasting events, instead pouring their energy into the product, the sustainability story and the recipe library.
Online orders ship via Royal Mail 48-hour tracked or APC next-day, with free delivery on UK orders over £30 and a £2 charge below that threshold. Deliveries run weekdays between 9am and 5pm, so customers can give a work address or neighbour as a safe place at checkout if needed. Suitable ID may be required on delivery, as you would expect for an alcoholic product.
Why English Vermouth matters
English still wine has grown up. From the chalky slopes of Hampshire to the sandstone ridges of East Sussex, English vineyards are producing world-class Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Bacchus and Ortega. But not every drop makes it into a still or sparkling bottle. Climate, vintage variation and sheer volume mean that some parcels of base wine are always surplus to requirement.
Vermouth offers a brilliant, food-friendly second life for that wine. Fortification preserves it, botanicals give it a unique regional voice, and the drink itself has centuries of provenance behind it. In The Loop Drinks have taken this logic to its natural conclusion: every drop of English wine in their bottles has been rescued from the waste stream and reborn in Sussex.
That is what in the loop really means. It is a drinks brand, but it is also a small, hopeful argument for a more circular British drinks industry.
Final thoughts
In The Loop Drinks is a small winery with a very big idea. The vermouths are excellent on their own merits - precise, balanced, intensely botanical and unmistakably rooted in the south-east of England - but they are made all the more compelling by the story behind them. Solar-powered, sustainably packaged, locally foraged and built on rescued English wine, this is English drinks-making at its most thoughtful.
Whether you reach for the Extra Dry White in a Martini, sip the Semi-sweet Red over ice with an orange twist, or pour the Orange Negroni straight from the bottle into a tumbler, you are tasting English wine at its most expressive. That is something worth raising a glass to.