Incidentally, a Lomond still remains in use at Scapa distillery in Orkney but the internal baffles have long since been removed due to their constantly needing cleaning, involving taking the still to pieces. Above the section which houses the Lomond baffle fins he had another section added which houses 80 copper tubes arranged in a honeycomb pattern.
Many believe that this additional copper contact also softens the spirit. The top section of the still is a water box, cooled by cold water continually being piped through the section so causing reflux and slowing down the passage of vapour to the lyne arm. Jim not only modified the still itself, he also added a botanical chamber to the middle of the lyne arm. This is used to hold a bag of the more delicate botanicals, particularly the leaves and petals which are hand-picked on the island.
The vapour must pass through these botanicals, so extracting their flavour. The 22 native Islay botanicals used are all hand-picked by retired husband and wife botanists, Richard and Mavis Gulliver. They forage the islands hills, peat bogs and coastal shores to collect the botanicals and then prepare them for use in distillation, filling the bags used in the stills botanical basket.
The botanicals are used dried or fresh, dependent on their availability — obviously more fresh leaves are available year round than flowers. Apple Mint Mentha x villosa — sweet, delicate, menthol and apple. Birch leaves Betula pubescens — spring woodlands. Creeping Thistle flowers Cirsium arvense — Honey. Elderflowers Sambucus nigra — Pungent, earthy, hint of musk. Whin Gorse flowers Ulex europaeus — Coconut.
Heather flowers Calluna vulgaris — Honey 8. Hawthorn flowers Crataegus monogyna — Heady, sweet, sharp, aniseed undertones. Lady's Bedstraw flowers Galium verum — Sweet new mown hay. Lemon Balm Mellissa officinalis — Fresh, sweet, lemon, green tea. Meadow Sweet Filipendula ulmaria — Heady, sweet, summer meadows. Peppermint leaves Mentha x piperita — Strong menthol.
Mugwort leaves Artemissia vulgaris — oily musk tones. Red Clover flowers Trifolium pratense — Sweet honey,brown sugar, machair scent. Sweet Cicely Myrrhis odorata — Aniseed, myrrh, faint camphor.
Tansy Tanacetum vulgare —Strongly aromatic, pungent. Thyme leaves Thymus valgaris — Strong, sweet, piquant, aromatic. Water Mint leaves Mentha aquatica — aromatic, menthol, refreshing.
White Clover Trifolium repens — Honey, hint of vinegar, machair scent. Wood Sage leaves Teucrium scorodonium — Camphor, sage. In , 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. 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.
Cool mint and juniper, slightly pine-forward juniper at first. Citrus, primarily lemon zest on the early mid-palate before sweet spices and flower come through. Woodruff, chamomile and herbs de provence. Warm juniper late with echoes of vanilla cream, licorice and birch bark. Fairly long, fairly dry finish with a gentle, pleasing astringency. I really like the way the seemingly boundless list of woodland herbs and flowers come together so nicely to create a harmonious, well-balanced accord.
Well that is on any except The Martini , which I wholeheartedly recommend with this gin. In mixed drinks, it adds a pleasant floral and herbal undernote to the gentle juniper-forward profile it already brings. This is a well-made gin with fine attention to detail. Recommended to both fans of classic and contemporary gin, though it may be too classic for the ardent contemporarians and too contemporary for the most ardent classicists.
Though I hope both can recommend a good product. Four stars for artistry. Not a gin that I need to have on the shelf always like Plymouth. But it is delightful and complex. Nice when you want to be entertained by guessing the herbology. A bit too floral for everyday. I would prefer ST. George Botanivoire on a regular basis. The Botanist is a gin of layered complexity. A progressive exploration of the botanical heritage of our isle of Islay.
Nine classic gin botanicals are augmented by 22 local herbs and flowers, foraged responsibly and by hand from the hills, shores and bogs of this fertile Hebridean island by our own team of botanical scientists. A roller coaster botanical odyssey in a glass.
Nose: Immediately a bouquet of herbal freshness, juniper and sweet citrus come to the fore. Allow a little time to open and the sweet, spicy and earthy notes of cassia and coriander set a base for the delicate complexity of the Islay The scent of Islay botanicals gently rises, winding their wild aromas of mint, thyme, sweet gale, gorse, camomile — a green freshness — through the heart of The Botanist.
Taste: Rich and mellow, cool on entry then warming across the palate, stimulating the taste buds with a round mouthfeel and citrus freshness. The balance and complexity are distinctive. With sweet and earthy notes combining with delicate floral and herbal notes of the Islay Each sip reveals deeper layers and more complex combinations of delicate flavours. This complexity and versatility perfectly suit a creative foraged serve of you own.
Finish: Relaxed and balanced. Water mint, hawthorn, wood sage, sweet cicely, cinnamon, citrus, soft juniper — a harmonious combination held together with a gentle, satin soft texture. The viscosity from an achingly slow distillation brings out the delicate essence of Islay, expressing a different balance of flavour, a different combination of botanicals, upon every taste.
Kenyan Originals Classic Tonic Water — ml. Kenyan Originals Light Tonic Water — ml. Parker Favourite Son Chardonnay.
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