We decided to use mint as it grows in abundance all around the farmhouse. Wild mint, unlike it’s cultivated cousin, is so strong that if you pass it in a field you can smell it. However, it is perhaps the most temperamental botanical we use. The strength of mint varies throughout the summer so it’s difficult to judge how much to use. As a result, we rely heavily on flavour profiling botanicals before and after they are distilled. I try to blend between batches to create a consistency that is recognisably Badvo, yet also look to embrace the fine variations created by the botanicals we love.” Tiree is a fertile and remote island, famed for sunshine and stunning scenery, and is surrounded by the vast Atlantic Ocean. In the eighteenth century, the island was home to around fifty distillers with each farm on the island operating at least one still producing whisky. When distilled, the tea provides fabulous citrus notes of blood orange along with a minty sweetness. These flavours are paired with more classic gin botanicals such as juniper, coriander seed, dried orange peel, angelica and orris root and a sprinkle of rose petals to create a smooth and fresh juniper-led gin with a citrusy lingering sweetness.

They come in all shapes, sizes, flavours. They can be found in almost every corner of the world. Some have been used for thousands of years to cure ailments. Some were even key to ancient civilisations and used in elaborate ceremonies. Without them gin wouldn’t be gin. We are of course speaking about botanicals. Without juniper would gin be gin? No. Thanks to Mother Nature, the range of botanicals available and opportunity to innovate is almost endless when you consider potential flavour combinations. We wanted to learn a bit more about some of the key botanicals (yes juniper should be first on the list!) that Scottish Gin makers and brands consider to be one if not ‘the’ botanical that they feel makes their Scottish Gin shine. In this latest episode of Beautiful Botanicals, we talk Mandarin with Hrfan, Oats with El:gin, Wild Mint with Badvo, Silver Birch with Esker and Gorse with Lundin. I love Daffy’s Gin and find their bottle to be absolutely beautiful. I very much enjoy drinking Daffy’s neat over ice as I find it particularly refreshing and drinkable. The inclusion of Lebanese mint as a botanical means, in my eyes, it makes a great Ginjito! We have experimented with Teasmith and really liked the citrus notes from the gin. Teasmith is also really served neat with ice and some lemon peel. For example, if you were drinking a fruit flavoured gin, garnishing with that same fruit may make the drink taste too much of that single flavour masking the delicacies and the more subtle botanicals that are present in the spirit. Think of it like this, if your food is already really peppery you wouldn’t be reaching for the pepper grinder right? Their company has got off to a great start, having won a Gold award already! Their gold was awarded in the Global Gin Masters following a blind tasting competition judged by experts.

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Esker have changed the thinking behind the flavours and using silver birch sap, a feature of Royal Deeside, challenged the traditional botanicals and gin recipes. As it stands, they are the only Scottish gin to use birch sap as a botanical.

This began to decline as tighter regulations from both the estate and the government were introduced. Although a large number of islanders were still making whisky illegally, this industry ceased completely in the nineteenth century.​ In a traditional pot-still, the gorse loses a little of the coconut aroma but the process creates some incredible fresh-cut hay and caramelised toffee flavours. Like all good spirits, it’s about balance; one flavour shouldn’t overwhelm the rest – gorse petals provide a lovely sweet, round counterpoint to the juniper, orange citrus and spice in our gin. I’m really proud of the result. All of Esker’s gins start in the same way with classic gin botanicals and the Esker twist – silver birch sap from the Kincardine Estate. Distilling days start early, using traditional copper stills (one called Drum, the other called Kelpie) to make the gin – the smell in the distillery when they are working is incredible. Remember the point of garnishing a gin is to enhance the drink. Don’t garnish for garnish sake. And remember as well as tasting with our eyes and mouths… we also use our noses.Try Esker Raspberry Gin with fresh raspberries for that burst of colour and fragrance as well as some lemon zest to cut through the sweetness.