FIRST JOURNEYS - 80 GINS AROUND THE WORLD - PIN 63 OF 80
PANGOLIN GIN, UK
AROUND THE WORLD, ONE BOTTLE AT A TIME,
PHILEAS FOGG WOULD SURELY APPROVE
A gin inspired by Africa's most trafficked mammal, with a much bigger story behind the bottle.
There is no better way to round off a day exploring the African bushveld than with a sundowner. Africa's happy hour, when you sit back with something cold in your hand, watch the sun turn the sky shades of red, orange and pink and simply take in the view.
The gin and tonic has its own connection to Africa too. Quinine was historically used to help protect against malaria, with tonic water providing the quinine and gin eventually becoming the rather more enjoyable way of taking it. The sundowner today is much less medicinal and much more about relaxing, meeting friends and enjoying a drink somewhere spectacular.
This is where Pangolin Gin comes into the story.
Chris, the founder, is a lover of wildlife and travel and it was during a trip to South Africa that he first learned about the plight of the pangolin. Like so many people, he had never heard of them, despite pangolins being recognised as the world's most trafficked mammal.
I had a similar experience. I only really became aware of pangolins a few years ago after watching a programme about Maria Diekmann, the Namibian conservationist who founded REST and has devoted much of her life to rescuing and studying endangered wildlife.
The programme featured Honeybun, a young pangolin rescued from poachers, and it was one of those stories that stays with you. Pangolins are nocturnal and incredibly elusive, so you can spend years travelling through Africa without ever seeing one.
They are also wonderfully strange. They are mammals, not reptiles, and the only mammals in the world covered in protective keratin scales. When threatened, they curl themselves into a ball, turning those scales into armour.
Their diet is mainly ants and termites, which they find using an extraordinarily long, sticky tongue. Their specialist diet also makes rehabilitation particularly difficult, so rescuing a pangolin is only the beginning of the conservation challenge.
The real problem is what happens when they are caught.
Pangolins are hunted for their meat and, particularly, for their scales. The scales are made from keratin — essentially the same protein found in our hair and fingernails — but have been used in traditional medicine because of claims that they can treat or cure various conditions. There is no scientific evidence that pangolin scales have medicinal properties.
All eight pangolin species, four found in Africa and four in Asia, are now protected from international commercial trade under CITES. Despite this, illegal trafficking continues, with African pangolins increasingly caught up in international trafficking networks.
That was something Chris felt he couldn't simply ignore. Combining his love of wildlife with his passion for spirits, he created Pangolin Gin with the aim of putting this extraordinary animal in front of people who, like him, might never have heard of it.
The gin is made using African botanicals including rooibos, honeybush and baobab, alongside citrus and cardamom. The idea is to capture something of that African sundowner in the bottle.
The range has grown since I first discovered it too, with the original joined by Pink Citrus and a Navy Strength version. The brand's current conservation information says that a percentage of sales supports pangolin conservation, and it continues to work with Born Free on pangolin awareness and adoption initiatives.
Maria Diekmann's organisation, formerly known as REST, has also evolved and now operates as Pangolins International, continuing its work with pangolins and other threatened species in Namibia.
I think this is what makes Pangolin Gin more interesting than simply being an African-inspired gin. The botanicals tell one story, but the animal behind the bottle tells another — and that story is one that desperately needs more people to hear.
If you've never heard of a pangolin before, you're certainly not alone. Perhaps that's exactly why putting their story on a gin bottle isn't such a bad idea.
"The World's Most Trafficked mammal."
SUNDOWNER G&T
COCKTAIL SUGGESTION:
PANGO'S SUNDOWNER
50ml Pangolin Gin
50ml Barbadillo Fino, infused with honeybush tea
50ml Amaro Montenegro
50ml Mangajo Red Grape & Rooibos Tea
Garnish with bright yellow orbs of Cape Gooseberry to represent the setting sun
"Show me a bottle
and I'll tell you a story."
