The Benedictines of the Monastery of San Salvador de Leyre (Navarre) have reactivated their ancient liqueur tradition after rescuing medieval recipes and, from the collection of juniper and other plants from the surroundings, have begun to produce artisanal gin in limited series, according to ACI Prensa.
The monastery—from the 9th century, linked to the origins of the ancient kingdom of Pamplona—today houses a community of 17 monks, with a life marked by prayer, liturgy, and daily work. In that context, the project is not presented as a conventional “entrepreneurship,” but as the practical continuity of ora et labora: recovering a craft proper to the monastery without losing the contemplative rhythm.
Research, tradition, and “recipes of the ancients”
The initial impetus was to resume the monastery’s liqueur-making, where the traditional Licor de San Benito was produced. To do this, the monks spent a year and a half researching historical documentation: inventories made after the disentailment and plant treatises, including those linked to Saint Hildegard, with the aim of reconstructing the original formulas for herbal liqueurs.
In addition to archival work, the process involved setting up a laboratory and meeting sanitary requirements, without neglecting practical aspects such as bottle design and labeling. The production, they explain, also became a community task: the youngest handle the maceration and the elders the labeling and storage, integrating novices and postulants.
From liqueur to gin: juniper, maceration, and patience
In the same forest where they collect traditional herbs, they found juniper, an essential ingredient of gin, and decided to take a further step: produce their own gin, caring for a manual and demanding process, with macerations that can extend up to 30 days depending on the plant, and with collections at specific times of the year.
The result, they emphasize, does not seek industrialization: they are very limited editions, precisely to not distort their monastic identity or turn the work into a production chain.
A first launch in October and sale in the monastery shop
The first bottle of the “Monastery of Leyre” gin was launched in October, coinciding with a visit to the monastery by the kings of Spain along with Infanta Leonor, on which occasion they gifted the first bottles. Since then, both the gin and the liqueur are sold in some parishes and in the monastery shop, which also offers guided tours and lodging.