Indigo in the bottle, pink in the glass: Awildian Coromandel Dry Gin Blue Edition changes colour when tonic is added. Butterfly pea flowers give it a vibrant blue, and because their natural pigment is sensitive to pH, the gin shifts from indigo to pink as soon as an acidic mixer such as tonic or citrus goes in. The Coromandel Distilling Company makes it in Thames, on the Coromandel Peninsula of New Zealand.

The gin builds on the Coromandel Dry Gin recipe: Seville orange, pomegranate, lemon thyme, bramble, damask rose petals, blueberries, juniper, grains of paradise and cardamom. The botanicals macerate for 16 hours on a sugar cane base, are distilled in a 150-litre Carl still and rest for at least 22 days before bottling at 47% ABV in 500 ml bottles. The gin is unfiltered, hand-labelled with batch traceability, and 1% of proceeds goes to environmental causes.

The distillery describes a floral, colour-shifting, citrus gin with floral sweetness, balanced juniper and notes of sweet biscuit and almond. The World Gin Awards judges in 2026 noted a viola-blue colour, refreshing citrus acidity and an aromatic floral and juniper nose, adding that tonic transforms the colour and softens the perception of alcohol on the finish.

Awards have followed the colour: Gold in the Colour-Changing Gin category in 2026, Country Winner Gold for New Zealand in the same category in 2024 and the same national title for Contemporary gin in 2023, all three awarded by the World Gin Awards, plus Silver at the NZ Small Batch Gin Awards 2024 and at the New Zealand Spirits Awards 2022. The gin and tonic shows the colour change best, but it works just as well in a Gimlet, a Negroni or a Martini, and a slice of lemon added to the glass deepens the shift towards pink.