It may not be whisky, but The Botanist gin is proudly from Islay
Bruichladdich gains a second spirit in islay gin
Islay is a hallowed ground for whisky lovers, especially those who crave peat and smoke. The Scottish island boasts of no fewer than eight distilleries. More recently, there’s another spirit that its 3,000-plus inhabitants can be proud of in the form of a gin, The Botanist (RM279), from the Bruichladdich distillery.
Bruichladdich has in recent years established themselves as a serious player in the whisky industry. Octomore is one of its most well-known products — a boundary-pushing series of the world’s most heavily-peated whisky. A similar sense of experimentation led Jim McEwan, the former Master Distiller, to try his hand at gin-making, and decided that it had to honour the meadows, woods and wetlands of his island home.
As a result, The Botanist is distinctly Islay-flavoured. On top of the nine core ingredients that make up gin, The Botanist is infused with 22 botanicals that are native to the island. The process is rather artisanal; all the herbs are hand-foraged throughout most of the year and are also dried by hand. The Bruichladdich distillery spends 340 days a year making whisky, while just eight are devoted to The Botanist, which allows a focus on consistent quality.
The result: a London Dry-style gin at 46% ABV, smooth in body, and a nose and palate bursting with fresh citrus and floral notes that truly represents the Queen of the Hebrides.
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