The Botanist Gin is an exploration of Hebridean flora.
Foraged botanicals are commonplace in gins that make a statement of place. Of the massive 31 botanicals in The Botanist, a full twenty-two of them are locally foraged and they range from the quotidian (spearmint) to the hardy, weedy, and unusual in gin (yellow bedstraw).
Yellow Bedstraw in a gin? This one is interesting for many reasons. Firstly, another plant that goes by the name of Bedstraw is more common in gin. The sweet woodruff or just plain woodruff is sometimes called bedstraw and is a not-too-unusual flavouring ingredient.
Yellow bedstraw, or as The Botanist Gin team calls it “Lady’s Bedstraw” is a yellow plant that was once used as bedding and has a distinctive Tonka-Bean like aroma of fresh, creamy hay. Unusual in culinary applications, it has traditional uses as a dye and in Nordic spirits. Most of the world knows it as a weed due to its hardy and opportune ability to colonize sprawling and disturbed grasslands.
Dispel the notion that an excess of botanicals means you can’t have a classic gin nose: plenty of juniper, lemon and orange zest mingling with meadowsweet and woodruff.
The Botanist Gin is a versatile mixing gin in the sense that it works well and delivers a classic gin flavour to most any cocktail.