The House of Botanicals ABZ Dry Gin 70cl
A refreshingly dry gin with fresh spice and citrus notes
Description
The House of Botanicals ABZ Dry Gin
The House of Botanicals was founded in 2009 in the centre of Aberdeen in North East Scotland. It's a certified B Corp™ and is owned and operated by a small husband and wife team of Adam & Steffie Elan-Elmegirab.
They use a combination of traditional and modern production techniques, as well as British grain spirit as the alcoholic base of their drinks. They then source botanicals from across the globe, and produce entirely with natural ingredients - refraining from using artificial flavours, preservatives or colours.
Fun Fact: The coat of Arms on the bottles is a homage to both the Aberdeen and London City Coats of Arms. The Black panther adds a reference to the hip-hop music listened to by the team on most days - as well as the original Old Tom branding which would commonly feature a Black Cat.
Whilst perhaps best known for their delicious Old Tom gins, they have now released their first non Old Tom, with their ABZ (the Aberdeen Airport Code) Dry Gin.
This is made using a two stage process. Initially they use a traditional copper pot distillation of juniper berries, angelica root, orris root, coriander seed, cassia bark, almond, orange peel and lemon peel. After this, a second stage maceration is used with saffron threads, fennel seeds and just a hint of strawberry. The second preocess used preserves the more delicate flavours in these botanicals, which would be lost using traditional distillation.
The result is a gin which has a light peach colour to it, with an aroma of piney juniper, butterscotch, lemon and an underlying note of cracked black pepper.
On the palate this has a rich, creamy mouthfeel - with the juniper and pine giving a strong back note to the gin. Bright citrus, warm sweet anise, and creamy strawberry lead into a finish of cracked black pepper which enlivens the taste buds.
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Perfect Serve
This works perfectly as a long drink, mixed with either a dry tonic (such as Three Cents Dry Tonic), or Fever-Tree's Sicillian Lemonade. With either option take a large glass filled with ice and add 50ml of the gin. Gently pour over 150 - 200ml of your chosen tonic and stir gently. Garnish with a thin slice of strawberry.
It also works exceptionally well in the mix, in cocktails such as the Dry Martini, Gimlet, Southside or Gin Fizz.
