Glendalough Wild Botanical Gin (75cl, 40%)

An Irish dry gin distilled with 23 wild-foraged botanicals in small batches of fewer than 250 litres. Full-time forager Geraldine Kavanagh gathers ingredients such as red clover flower, ox eye daisy, bell heather, lady's bedstraw, wild rose and watermint, delivering them fresh to the distillery within hours. These join juniper, coriander, angelica root, orris root, liquorice root and bark, and fresh organic lemons in Holstein copper pot stills. Because the wild ingredients shift with the seasons, each production run carries slightly different characteristics. The aroma opens with freshly felled juniper and pine needles, followed by resinous eucalyptus and citrus peel, then wildflowers, green apple and subtle chalky minerality. The palate is cool and mellow, moving through summer wildflowers and sweet woodruff, with raspberry, blackberry, spearmint and forest ferns building toward gentle warm spice. The finish is long and sylvan, with lingering warm winter spices and a clean mineral impression.