Garnish Island Gin

The botanical list reads Mediterranean and the distillery is in West Cork. Rosemary, thyme, lavender, hibiscus and iris are the plants of a warm hillside, not an Atlantic one, and West Cork Distillers assembles them into a gin bottled at the substantial strength of 46%, which is what allows material this delicate to survive.

Floral · Herbal

Flowers and herbs divide the work between them and they do not overlap. Iris root and lavender supply the perfumed half: iris powdery and soft, binding everything from underneath, lavender cool and aromatic above it, and the elegance of the aroma comes from the pair. Hibiscus works differently, contributing a tart floral edge with a red-fruit quality that stops the flowers sweetening. Then the herbs arrive and pull hard in the other direction. Rosemary is resinousResinousAn aroma reminiscent of pine or fir resin. It is juniper's signature, due to compounds such as pinene.Glossary and dry, close enough to pine that it shakes hands with the juniper. Thyme is smaller and more savoury, adding a fine herbal bitterness through the middle. The remaining botanicals fill in around them. At 46% the whole arrangement stays defined rather than blurring, which a lower strength would not guarantee with this much floral material.

The strength also means the glass can take a proper mixer. A neutral tonic of firm bubble, ice to the top, and a whole measure, since the spirit here has enough to survive dilutionDilutionThe water added by melting ice. In the right amount it opens the aromas and softens the alcohol; too much flattens the drink.Glossary. Rosemary in a sprig is the garnish following the herbs; lemon peel lifts the flowers instead. Avoid sweetened mixers, which would tip the hibiscus toward cordialCordialA concentrated syrup of fruit (often lime) and sugar, made to be topped up.Glossary. Building a Mediterranean recipe on the Irish coast is a contradiction that the bottle simply ignores. Five botanicals named and the rest withheld puts the weight on the five, and each is doing visible work. It closes floral, herbal, dry.