Factoid: Apparently between 75 per cent to 95 per cent of a gin’s flavour profile is based on smell.

Of the future, Lynne says: “We are focusing on building our brand and making it easier for our customers to find our spirits on the shelf – whether they are in a shop, or in a bar. There is always some development work going on at the distillery so you never know when new products might start appearing… watch this space!” We can’t wait to try their Oak Aged Gin, which has been aged for 30 days and apparently tastes like a cross between whisky and gin. 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. Aberdeenshire has a rich heritage that links the area with the tea trade. The Newburgh estuary, was once a thriving market place with tea being one of its biggest imports.Strike a happy balance between your drink looking attractive and tasting great. We take the first sip of our gin with our eyes, so to ignore presentation would be a mistake! Hrafn Gin is a premium gin that has a deeper taste, with a long lingering finish and to achieve this, the distilling process is slowed down for maximum extraction. Mandarin is one of the few citrus fruits that can take this process and still reveal the sweet citrus flavours. Mandarin was always our preferred citrus due to its sweeter nature and the test distil revealed its darker qualities that fitted our taste profile. The Gin Fayre presents International Scottish Gin Day 2019, which will take place in the prestigious Mansfield Traquair in the centre of Edinburgh. Why tea? Because Scotland has many historical links with the tea trade with several stemming from Aberdeenshire which is where the Founders are based. When they discovered the story of James Taylor – a young man from the area - who grew the very first commercial tea plantation in British Ceylon, they worked with tea consultant Beverly Wainwright to source a special loose leaf tea from the Amba Estate in Sri Lanka. Something we have always believed in at Esker Spirits is that what we choose to serve alongside our spirits should enhance rather than define our gin .While we take extra care to source fresh, good quality garnishes and premium mixers, we make sure our Gins are the stars and our recommended serves are designed to complement rather than overpower.

Today, the British have made gin very much their own drink, and it is now enjoying incredible popularity. While dominated by juniper, any number of botanicals can be infused — from aniseed to orange blossom — to achieve the desired taste. This has opened the door to a plethora of new and exciting gins, creating an upcoming and innovative craft-gin industry. The small family business started off in 2017 to produce a drink for their bed and breakfast guests and perhaps the local pub. Now it sells gin across the UK in the independent trade and exports to Germany, Denmark, Malta with more quality conscious markets to come. Just now I’m loving the Esker Silverglas as it’s so fresh and light. I love this just as a G&T and I garnish it as recommended, with lemon peel and mint. It’s a great way to use the mint that I grow in the garden! It is stunning and one that I really, truly love. Perfect for the summer. I tend to use a 2:1 tonic to gin ratio for this serve.

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The advantage of having a farm on a hill is that they have a wide variety of terrain; from grassland to heatherland, and from forests to bogland. In addition to Esker Gold, the range also includes the Silverglas gins – a light, fresh London dry, and two fruit gins, Scottish Raspberry Gin and Valencian Orange Gin. The fruit gins are made with real fruit, not syrups or cordials. “It’s a lot of work, but worth it for the end product”, Lynne adds.

As the restoration project continues, the team welcomes you to indulge in a drink and share their journey and will open as a venue for weddings and events later this year. Edinburgh Seaside Gin is my favourite of the Edinburgh collection. It has an almost soft, chalky mouthfeel and a sherbety sweetness to it which I find really scrummy. It also makes a great martini! When it comes to accommodation in Scotland, there's a fantastic choice of amazing stays from luxury hotels to glamping getaways. A plant which provides such an important habitat and source of food for our natural fauna and which is so versatile in culinary use deserves to be celebrated. Just remember to take some gloves if you want to try it yourself!” 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.”So what’s in the glass? There is local Angelica, Bere Barley, Borage, Ramanas Rose, Burnet Rose, as well as Calamondin citrus fruits grown in their green house. There are a lot of unusual botanicals in Kirkjuvagr, which will make it a quite unique Gin. The Queen’s former floating palace, Britannia was an ambassador for British business, promoting trade and industry around the world. The heart of Hrafn Gin ‘Thought & Memory’ is our signature botanical of mandarin. It is a fruit that is familiar, but also has some surprising qualities. Founded in 2015, Esker was established to embrace innovation and produce spirits that deliver a real taste experience to the consumer, starting with gins that are complemented by mixers and garnish, not defined by them.