Taylor & Smith x Analiese Gregory Honey Gin

Honey from chef Analiese Gregory's own hives goes into Taylor & Smith x Analiese Gregory Honey Gin. The Hobart distillery made it with the Tasmanian chef and forager, bottles it at 42% ABV and lines the bottles with beeswax. Juniper and Tasmanian bush honey are the named ingredients.

Floral · Herbal

The nose is described through musk, paperbark and floral notes. On the palate, bush honey and native vegetation lead towards myrtle and bottlebrush, and a waxy smoothness gives the gin a rounded texture. Paperbark, myrtle and bottlebrush describe the aromas of the Tasmanian bush that the honey carries, rather than separate botanicals. Honey brings warmth and roundness, but the gin stays dry enough to remain a gin, and juniper comes back clearly at the finish.

The collaboration links the drink to Gregory's work as a chef and forager, and to the flowering bush that feeds her bees. The beeswax lining belongs to the bottle and its presentation, not to the liquid. Taylor & Smith suggests a Bee's Knees, made with lemon and honey syrup, and a Gin and It with sweet vermouthVermouthAn aromatised, fortified wine flavoured with herbs and barks; its name comes from the German Wermut, wormwood. Dry vermouth goes into a Martini, sweet red into a Negroni.Glossary. Both suit its floral, honeyed direction: lemon gives a clean counterpoint, while fortified wine gives the juniper and honey more room. At 42%, the gin has the definition to stand up to both citrus and vermouth. Neat, over a single ice cube, the honey and paperbark notes are at their clearest.

For a gin and tonic, fill a balloon glassCopa glassA large stemmed balloon glass, popularised by the Spanish gin and tonic: it stays cold for longer and gathers the aromas above the drink.Glossary with clear iceClear iceIce without air bubbles, made by slow, directional freezing. Denser, it melts more slowly and dilutes less.Glossary, add 4 cl of gin and 10 cl of chilled Fever-Tree Elderflower Tonic Water, and stir once. A lemon wheel and a rose petal finish the drink. The elderflower tonic extends the floral notes, and the lemon keeps the honey fresh. The rose petal adds a gentle perfume that suits the floral nose.