Gin Botanical: Lemongrass I’ve tried cooking with lemongrass a few times, with little success. It’s put to heavy use in Fentiman’s Tonic Water and, as a gin botanical, it makes an appearance in Bombay Sapphire East, Farmer’s Gin and Monkey 47. Lemongrass: Facts The oils in lemongrass are a potent insect repellent and lemongrass can […]

Gin Botanical: Kaffir Lime Leaves I’ve got no reminiscence about Kaffir Limes, or its leaves. However, I am coming down with some sort of flu-like thing – my nose isn’t congested yet but it’s on its way to my lungs and coffee isn’t tasting quite right. So, my sense of taste/smell is affected, but not […]

Gin Botanical: Rosemary I vandalise rosemary plants; if I walk past one, I can’t resist tearing a sprig off to smell. I’ve pulled-out a winter-coat at the end of summer before and found a dried rosemary sprig in the pocket. I have one in the weed-patch that masquerades as a herb-garden and it struggles along […]

Gin Botanical: Thyme Thyme is one of the few plants that I seem to be able to keep alive in the overgrown patch of weeds that I generously call the ‘herb garden’. It’s always there, looking healthy, no matter how much I brutalise it for sprigs. As a botanical in gin, thyme isn’t exactly common […]

Gin botanical: Caraway Seed When I was a child, my mother made caraway seed biscuits. In recent years, with fond memories of these treats, I sought-out a recipe and made some of my own. Neither my wife or son liked them, so I never made any since. More recently, I added some to a batch […]

Gin Botanical: Earl Grey Tea I’m a coffee drinker by nature, but if there’s no coffee to be had, then earl grey is my back-up plan. As a gin botanical, earl grey tea is pretty rare. Earl Grey Tea: Facts Earl grey tea is, traditionally, black tea flavoured with dried bergamot peel. Many modern teas […]

Gin Botanical: Chamomile Chamomile tea seems to the a staple of people who’re into their herbal infusions but as a gin botanical, Chamomile isn’t that common. It can be found in gins like Tanqueray 10, Bloom and The Botanist. Chamomile: Facts The Chamomile plant is related to the daisy, as you can probably see from […]

Gin Botanical: Lavender For several years I lived in a rented cottage on the country estate of an Earl. There was a walled garden which had a gravel path leading to it; the path was about 60yds long and each side was lined with a lavender hedge. It was glorious in summer, with hundreds of […]