"When we distill The Botanist, we are creating something more than a drink. The Botanist is a representation of the place we are from. It is a way of communicating our place in the world and our love for it.
"Distilling is a way of life, and for me it is a way of communicating to the world. We use the art of distillation and a connection to the land, our home, to create a wonderful gin that's the essence of Islay."
- ADAM HANNETT, HEAD DISTILLER
In order to to capture the essence of Islay, you must look at things in a new light. Howdo you create a gin of beautiful balance and satin smoothness, the very first of its kind from Islay? Something that evoked the feeling of being there, like the sweet scent of the gorse bloom in the air on the first days of spring. The earthy aromas of a woodland walk after the rain. The herbaceous fragrance as the wind blows across an open moor. A gin that would honour the island's reputation for creating the highest quality spirits, revered the world over
Looking past the sea of green that graced the landscape, carefully selecting 22 aromatic botanicals from this playground, 240 square miles of Hebridean paradise. Choosing plants that were abundant and could be foraged sustainably and by hand. Reviving an abandoned old Lomond still, that was destined for the scrapheap. With a bit of imagination and a few masterful modifications, Ugly Betty, as the still came to be known, was ready. Calling upon the centuries old expertise of our distillers, asking them to look beyond the conventions of whisky to help us realise a vision.
The Botanist team asked themselves what could happen if equal value was placed on people, planet, and profit, if business was used as a force for good? Through challenging themselves to do things differently, they achieved B Corp certification, exploring ways to create conscientiously and to give back. And at the heart of all of our decisions is the community, their biggest asset, and one they continue to celebrate every single day.
