THE GIN PASSPORT ATLAS - DISTILLERY STORY- PINNED ON THE MAP - EUROPE
THE GIN BOTHY, Scotland, UK
The Gin Bothy
A lot of distilleries are looking at ways to become more sustainable, finding clever uses for spent fruit and botanicals. Kim Cameron went about it the other way round.
Her journey into gin began with jam making and a simple question: what could she do with all that lovely leftover berry juice?
The answer, as it turns out, was gin.
Based in Angus, Kim had an abundance of soft fruit on her doorstep, along with plenty of local botanicals to experiment with. What started as a way of avoiding waste has grown into The Gin Bothy, producing a rather fabulous range of infused gins, liqueurs and other fruit-based drinks.
The team produce their infused gins using their Original Bothy Gin, made in collaboration with a local distillery and incorporating Scottish and locally foraged botanicals. The result is a gin with a distinctly Scottish character, with heather, milk thistle, hawthorn root, pine needles and rosemary among the botanicals.
The name is just as important as the gin. A bothy is traditionally a simple refuge, whether for hill walkers and travellers or farm workers needing somewhere to rest. It is somewhere warm, welcoming and uncomplicated, where stories are shared and traditions passed down.
That idea runs through the brand, and you can experience it for yourself at The Bothy Experience in Glamis, housed in a former stable block. It is separate from the production facilities and gives visitors the chance to discover more about Kim's story, the history of bothies and, naturally, bothy songs.
I rather like the idea of a gin brand built around the same principles as a good bothy: somewhere to stop, have a drink, share a story and feel welcome.
As summer starts to slip into autumn, the hedgerows become rather tempting. Damsons, sloes and, of course, blackberries are everywhere, and those sweet, jammy fruits make brilliant cocktail ingredients.
The recommended serve for Original Bothy Gin is a crisp G&T with rosemary and orange, but I wanted something that celebrated the fruit behind the Bothy story. So, naturally, I made a Bothy Bramble.
The Scottish character of Original Bothy Gin works particularly well with the blackberry, while the citrus stops the whole thing becoming too sweet. If you've managed to forage some blackberries yourself, even better.
There is something rather satisfying about a gin that started with a desire not to waste good fruit and ended up creating an entire range of spirits. Waste not, want not — especially when the result tastes this good.
"From leftover berry juice to a while lot of Scottish spirit"
BOTHY BRAMBLE
50ml Original Bothy Gin
25ml fresh lemon juice
15ml sugar syrup
15ml blackberry liqueur or crème de mûre
Fresh blackberries to garnish
Shake the gin, lemon juice and sugar syrup with ice. Strain over crushed ice and drizzle the blackberry liqueur over the top. Garnish with fresh blackberries.
Show me a bottle and
I'll tell you a story.