As much as I enjoy a cocktail, nothing can compete with the perfectly poured gin and tonic. Just give me a large tumbler, a nice amount of ice, a larger measure of gin and a slice of lime and I’m extremely happy. For me the perfection is in the simplicity of the construction followed by the abundance of flavour.
Simply put, gin is a distilled beverage that has juniper berries at the forefront of the taste and flavour. It is the other botanical ingredients used that separate one gin from another. These botanics can be sourced from across the globe so even if the gin is made in Glasgow or Edinburgh or Dundee or
St Andrews (you get the picture), it could easily contain North African coriander, Indian liquorice and cassia bark from southern China.
It would take me at least a two page full spread to list all the current new and trending gins, so here are some of my current favourites.
From up in the Cairngorms we have Byron’s Gin Bird Cherry (Master of Malts, £42.75). It’s named after the renowned poet Lord Byron and showcases his love of the Highlands and the bird cherry flower that grows locally. This gin has a red fruit note and a gentle spice reminiscent of strawberries with black pepper.
The Bute Oyster Gin (Inverarity One to One £40.99) is the only gin that I’ve come across that uses locally sourced Argyll oyster shells to add an extra dry minerality to the glass. With the juniper and lemon peel notes, this is a beautifully savoury gin. For a garnish, well more of a decadence, serve with fresh shucked oysters.
It would be amiss of me to not mention my home town gin. Forget a G&T and get into a B&T. The Botanist Islay Gin (widely available) from Bruichladdich Distillery is made with 9 traditional ingredients but the magic comes from the 22 locally sourced botanics. From the amazingly named Creeping Thistle Flowers to the obscure Lady’s Bedstraw Flowers, this gin is packed with flavour. This a luxurious gin with the floral and citrus notes complimenting each other.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here