When distilled, the tea provides fabulous citrus notes of blood orange along with a minty sweetness. These flavours are paired with more classic gin botanicals such as juniper, coriander seed, dried orange peel, angelica and orris root and a sprinkle of rose petals to create a smooth and fresh juniper-led gin with a citrusy lingering sweetness. In a traditional pot-still, the gorse loses a little of the coconut aroma but the process creates some incredible fresh-cut hay and caramelised toffee flavours. Like all good spirits, it’s about balance; one flavour shouldn’t overwhelm the rest – gorse petals provide a lovely sweet, round counterpoint to the juniper, orange citrus and spice in our gin. I’m really proud of the result. 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.

So what do we get in the glass? Juniper, Heather, Rosehip, Peppercorn and Citrus. Esker Gin will also have Silver Birch Tree sap from tree in the local Kincardine Castle Estate. Esker will be the first Scottish Gin I know of to use Birch Tree sap in its recipe. It will give the Gin a refreshing sweetness; Birch Tree sap is renowned for its health-boosting properties.The trend has become so popular, that nowadays serving gin with weird and wonderful fruits, herbs and spices has almost become the norm and with dedicated gin bars popping up all over the country, the varieties appear endless with little sign of slowing down. 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. It seems like it does with Minus 33, who have concocted a solution to the high calorie content in flavoured gin. The answer is sugar- or rather NO sugar! 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". This would be a great place to buy a gift for someone who wishes to invest in local businesses that take responsibility for the impact their trading has on the environment.

However, there is such a thing as “ over garnishing”, and while edible flowers, and dehydrated passion fruits look may look impressive, rather than going over the top, (remember the gift wrapping scene in Love Actually?) we are sometimes happy to go with a more traditional garnish if we believe that it works best with the flavour profile of our gin. The distillery is based on the Kincardine Estate on Royal Deeside in Aberdeenshire. The gins are produced in copper stills using over a dozen botanicals, including heather, citrus and spice. For Mint (other soft herbs) gently “clap” your mint sprig to release a fresh but subtle aroma over the top of your gin. How we do it…. Or try… grapefruit slice and thyme. The grapefruit adds colour and fragrance while the earthy thyme offsets the citrus in the gin perfectly. Hand-in-hand with the explosion of craft gins and premium tonics over last few years, there has been a sharp rise in the use of creative gin garnishes. With gin brands and gin fans choosing to embellish their favourite tipple with everything from pink grapefruit to frozen asparagus tips (yes asparagus!) the days of the humble “ ice & slice” appear to be a distant memory.What will be next? That remains to be seen, but rest assured it will be delicious and it will be soon. I change my mind all the time! I would say, most importantly, we love traditional London Dry juniper-led gins. But generally, I’m partial to a floral gin, like Lundin’s Gorse Gin. I would say at the moment Martin is a fan of coastal-type gins, with delicate maritime hints and citrus mix.