Arbutus Citrus Gin

Wheat grown in British Columbia is the starting point for Arbutus Citrus Gin, distilled on Vancouver Island by Arbutus Distillery. Bottled at 43% ABV, it is described by the distillery as a contemporary London Dry GinLondon DryA style, not a place of origin: every flavour comes from distilling natural botanicals. After distillation only water and a trace of sugar may be added, with no flavouring or colouring.GlossarySee London Dry gins. The recipe layers lemon, orange peel, kaffir lime leaf and dried salted lime over juniper, coriander, lavender, orris root, elderflower and angelica. After distillation, the spirit is steeped again with lemon peel, a final step that gives the citrus a clear place in the finished gin.

Citrus · Dry · Floral

The citrus comes from several sources rather than a single dominant fruit. Lemon and orange provide familiar bright notes; kaffir lime leaf brings a more aromatic lime character, while dried salted lime adds a savoury edge. Those ingredients sit alongside a floral and herbal group of lavender, elderflower and angelica, with juniper and coriander keeping the profile recognisably gin. The distillery calls the result light and bright. This is a useful guide to the balance: the citrus is prominent, but the recipe retains its dry ginDry ginGin with no perceptible sweetness: in the European Union, the word "dry" allows at most 0.1 g of sugar per litre.GlossarySee Dry gin gins framework.

Arbutus makes this gin with 100% British Columbia wheat and offers it in 375 ml and 750 ml bottles. It won a silver medal at the 2020 Canadian Artisan Spirit Awards. That second steeping of lemon peel is what sets this bottling apart from the distillery's other gins. That restraint also helps distinguish the product from the distillery's Blue Gin and Empiric Gin, which have their own recipes and profiles.

Try it first in a simple gin and tonic, using a restrained Indian tonicIndian tonicThe classic tonic: sparkling water, bitter quinine and sugar. The name recalls colonial India, where quinine warded off malaria.Glossary so the citrus remains easy to pick out. A lemon twistTwistA strip of peel twisted over the glass to release its oils, then dropped into the drink.Glossary and a kaffir lime leaf suit the ingredients named by the distillery; add one of each to the drink. The peel echoes the final lemon steep, while the leaf reinforces the lime note without adding a sweet mixer. It also works as a starting point for a MartiniDry MartiniGin and a little dry vermouth, stirred over ice and served in a well-chilled stemmed glass, with an olive or a twist.Glossary, where dilutionDilutionThe water added by melting ice. In the right amount it opens the aromas and softens the alcohol; too much flattens the drink.Glossary is lower and the layered citrus can stay in focus. The combination of provincial wheat, a defined set of citrus botanicals and a second lemon steep gives Arbutus Citrus a specific identity within the Nanaimo distillery's range.