Esker Gin – Premium Scottish Highland Dry Gin | 42% ABV, 70cl Bottle | Distilled in Aberdeenshire with Locally Sourced Silver Birch Sap, Pink Peppercorns, and Rosehip | Ideal for Negroni and Martini

Product Information

The bright, silver bark of silver birch trees makes them a notable feature across Scotland and especially across Royal Deeside where the Esker distillery is located. Silver birch is a generous tree – it’s widely spread roots bring otherwise inaccessible nutrients into the tree, which are recycled on to the soil surface when the tree sheds its leaves. It has links to Celtic mythology, symbolising renewal and purification – in Scottish Highland mythology, it is used as symbol of love. Or try… grapefruit slice and thyme. The grapefruit adds colour and fragrance while the earthy thyme offsets the citrus in the gin perfectly. Why tea? Because Scotland has many historical links with the tea trade with several stemming from Aberdeenshire which is where the Founders are based. When they discovered the story of James Taylor – a young man from the area - who grew the very first commercial tea plantation in British Ceylon, they worked with tea consultant Beverly Wainwright to source a special loose leaf tea from the Amba Estate in Sri Lanka. They come in all shapes, sizes, flavours. They can be found in almost every corner of the world. Some have been used for thousands of years to cure ailments. Some were even key to ancient civilisations and used in elaborate ceremonies. Without them gin wouldn’t be gin. We are of course speaking about botanicals. Without juniper would gin be gin? No. Thanks to Mother Nature, the range of botanicals available and opportunity to innovate is almost endless when you consider potential flavour combinations. We wanted to learn a bit more about some of the key botanicals (yes juniper should be first on the list!) that Scottish Gin makers and brands consider to be one if not ‘the’ botanical that they feel makes their Scottish Gin shine. In this latest episode of Beautiful Botanicals, we talk Mandarin with Hrfan, Oats with El:gin, Wild Mint with Badvo, Silver Birch with Esker and Gorse with Lundin. Gin is traditionally served over ice with tonic, though some are now also taking it neat. You can drink it any way you like, we're not fussed, as long as you enjoy it!

What will be next? That remains to be seen, but rest assured it will be delicious and it will be soon. The advantage of having a farm on a hill is that they have a wide variety of terrain; from grassland to heatherland, and from forests to bogland. Nestled deep in the western Pentland Hills, Tarbraxus Distillers is home to the award-winning Pentland Hills Gin.We decided to use mint as it grows in abundance all around the farmhouse. Wild mint, unlike it’s cultivated cousin, is so strong that if you pass it in a field you can smell it. However, it is perhaps the most temperamental botanical we use. The strength of mint varies throughout the summer so it’s difficult to judge how much to use. As a result, we rely heavily on flavour profiling botanicals before and after they are distilled. I try to blend between batches to create a consistency that is recognisably Badvo, yet also look to embrace the fine variations created by the botanicals we love.” The Esker distillery has won over a dozen awards for the taste of its gins including International Wine & Spirits Competition (IWSC) gold and silver awards for Esker and Esker Honey Spiced, along with Great Taste Awards.

The genesis of our gin begins in our recipe development lab; we deliberate, iterate, taste and repeat, creating over a hundred recipes in the pursuit of perfection, and we think we are pretty close. Try Esker Raspberry Gin with fresh raspberries for that burst of colour and fragrance as well as some lemon zest to cut through the sweetness. A seemingly year-long flowering spiky plant, which has cursed many a golfer’s round, gorse almost goes unnoticed through its sheer ubiquitous presence in Scotland and across the globe. Anyone who’s ever walked a country lane or through the dunes on a warm late Spring evening will be familiar with the spray of bright yellow and the incredible aroma (a little reminiscent of Hawaiian Tropic suntan oil).As someone who really likes their floral gins, this sounds like a great gin to me. The provenance of a product is becoming more and more important to gin fans, who appreciate value rather than volume. Today, the British have made gin very much their own drink, and it is now enjoying incredible popularity. While dominated by juniper, any number of botanicals can be infused — from aniseed to orange blossom — to achieve the desired taste. This has opened the door to a plethora of new and exciting gins, creating an upcoming and innovative craft-gin industry. Building on the brand, and tapping into the market for lighter, fruit flavoured drinks, Esker Spirits has recently lived up to its name by extending the spirits range to include two fruit vodkas (Scottish Raspberry and Orange and Pomegranate). When Helen was working in distilleries she was inspired by the enthusiasm of those working in the industry and how it is all-encompassing; crafting, branding, and helping people: "It's a very creative place to be". There are perfumed floral notes up-front mixed with the dry, fruity notes of pear and peach. Then vanilla, cinnamon, juniper, angelica and pine blossom finish the gin and make the taste linger."

The Gin Fayre presents International Scottish Gin Day 2019, which will take place in the prestigious Mansfield Traquair in the centre of Edinburgh. A plant which provides such an important habitat and source of food for our natural fauna and which is so versatile in culinary use deserves to be celebrated. Just remember to take some gloves if you want to try it yourself!” Sustainability drives Phil and Tabatha’s ethos. The distillery uses solar energy, water rises on the land and juniper has been planted to help the regeneration of the berry which is key to all gin distillation. Using gorse as a botanical didn’t immediately spring to mind when I began making gin, but as my palate and skill as a distiller developed it began to make sense as I looked to create a unique London Dry gin, which met my own personal preferences as a gin-drinker i.e. juniper-led with floral elements without becoming perfumey. Gorse was perfect. Scotland produces gin? That's right, Scotland doesn't just make the best whisky in the world, it's not bad at creating craft gins either.Kirkjuvagr Gin will be distributed through specialist retailers later this year, with an online shop planned also. The scents and aromas of our gin garnish can actually improve the drinking experience and the way that we prepare and use them can actually have a big effect on the final drink. Also added to Teasmith is juniper, coriander, orange peel, grains of paradise, angelica, calamus and orris root.

After buying a copper still from Portugal, what was once a hobby has now evolved into a commercial venture, with their recent debut at the Taste of Grampian Food and Drink Exhibition being a breakthrough into the local Gin market.

Esker Premium Dry Gin Details

Remember the point of garnishing a gin is to enhance the drink. Don’t garnish for garnish sake. And remember as well as tasting with our eyes and mouths… we also use our noses. Early spring is a critical time for us as we work to tap trees when the sap is at its peak. This is something we have done for a few years now and we are always keen to ensure that we harvest the sap responsibly and sustainably. With so many silver birches to choose from, this is relatively simple! Hrafn Gin is a premium gin that has a deeper taste, with a long lingering finish and to achieve this, the distilling process is slowed down for maximum extraction. Mandarin is one of the few citrus fruits that can take this process and still reveal the sweet citrus flavours. Mandarin was always our preferred citrus due to its sweeter nature and the test distil revealed its darker qualities that fitted our taste profile.