The Botanist Islay Dry Gin (70 CL)

Although distilled at a distillery better known for Scotch (Bruichladdich) and in a region of the world better known for Scotch (the Southern reaches of the Hebridean islands), The Botanist Gin is no Islay Scotch.

Rather, The Botanist Gin is an exploration of Hebridean flora.

In 2011, what the Bruichladdich distillery was still rather unusual. 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 flavoring 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.