The Botanist Islay gin enters travel retail

After an exclusive launch in domestic top-end venues over the last two years, The Botanist Islay Dry Gin will be introduced in its new embossed bottle in travel retail this month, commencing at Dufry airport stores in Italy, Switzerland and Russia before being released more widely.

Conceived, distilled and hand-crafted at Bruichladdich distillery on the Hebridean Isle of Islay by master distiller Jim McEwan, The Botanist is a super-premium artisanal gin of layered complexity. It is an exploration of the botanical heritage of Islay with nine classic gin botanicals augmented by 22 seasonal herbs and flowers, which have been foraged from the hills, shores and bogs of the island by The Botanist’s own team of botanical scientists.

The Botanist is trickle-distilled in the world’s last surviving Lomond Spirit Still.  Once described as “an oversized, upside-down dustbin made of copper” by Tom Morton in his ‘Spirit of Adventure’, this pioneering 60-year old still was developed after the Second World War as an experimental cross between a column and a pot still.  Operating at significantly lower pressure than mainstream commercial stills, the Lomond Still gently coaxes the essential oils from the foraged island botanicals.

“The result,” claims Jim McEwan “is a highly-seductive, satin-smooth gin with exploding floral aromas and a rich, mellow taste. This is a gin as much for the mind as for the palate - a thinking person’s gin. The Botanist is like a breath of botanical Islay in a glass.”

The new rounded bottle, manufactured by Saverglass, conveys the provenance of this unique gin with the names of all 22 of the hand-foraged Islay botanicals embossed in Latin on the glass.

The Botanist is a rare expression of the heart and soul of this wild Scottish island and of the culture, philosophy and passion of those who made it.

Matthew Hodges, marketing and business development director, Rémy Cointreau GTR says: “The originality of The Botanist Islay Dry Gin, its unusual composition and distillation methods, its distinctive packaging and, most importantly, its extraordinary taste, are expected to strike a chord with travelling consumers who seek premium products with intriguing provenance and authenticity as well as style.”

The Botanist Dry Gin from Bruichladdich will retail at RRP €42.99 per litre.

3 March 2014 - Felicity Murray The Drinks Report, editor