Tropicana Jul-Aug 2018 #119 Hot Stuff

THE DRINKS
GO GREEN
The Botanist, Islay’s one and only dry gin finally officially launches in Malaysia.
WORDS BY GRACE LAI
Islay is a land of mystery; of shimmering greens and
brilliant blues the colour of cloudless, summer skies.
This tiny island houses only over 3,000 inhabitants;
but within its glorious land sits some of the the
world’s best and active whisky distilleries. From the east
to the west you will find the peaty Ardbeg, Lagavulin
and Laphroaig; and on the north of the island, Bowmore,
Bruichladdich, Caol Ila and Bunnahabhain, which are
substantially lighter in taste.
Back in 1999, celebrated drinks journalist Dave
Broom sat with (just as celebrated) Jim McEwan,
Bruichladdich’s former Master Distiller of the
Progressive Hebridean Distillers. “I recall sitting on the
shores of Loch Indaal with him in 1999, looking across to
Bruichladdich [then closed]”. “I’d love for that distillery
to reopen,” McEwan said. “It’s a disgrace that it’s closed.”
It hurt him as a whisky man and as an Ileach.
Today, the restored distillery is one of the largest
employers on Islay, forging new links with farmers
and harnessing Islay’s unique flora to create and infuse
another type of spirit – gin. The unprecedented result is
a combination of a master Islay distiller's know-how and
its locally foraged botanicals. Twenty-two to be specific.
With The Botanist, if you remember no other
numbers, know just these – 22, nine and 46. Botanicals
are the very essence of gin; its raison d'etre you may
say, and The Botanist gin – with a 46% ABV – is created
from nine core, traditional gin botanicals and 22 local
Islay botanicals, all hand-picked and foraged by local
botanists, Dr. Richard and Mavis Gulliver.
Gin, the new whisky in town if you haven’t heard, is
IMAGES BY THE BOTANIST
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JULY/AUGUST 2018 | TM