Esker Gin – Premium Scottish Highland Dry Gin | 42% ABV, 70cl Bottle | Distilled in Aberdeenshire with Locally Sourced Silver Birch Sap, Pink Peppercorns, and Rosehip | Ideal for Negroni and Martini

Product Information

Badvo Distillery is the brainchild of Helen Stewart, an English Literature student whose family have been farming in Pitlochry for over 400 years. Britannia Gin is made from 16 botanicals, with each of those botanicals carefully selected to represent the Royal Yacht’s lifetime at sea. Esker have changed the thinking behind the flavours and using silver birch sap, a feature of Royal Deeside, challenged the traditional botanicals and gin recipes. As it stands, they are the only Scottish gin to use birch sap as a botanical. Also added to Teasmith is juniper, coriander, orange peel, grains of paradise, angelica, calamus and orris root. 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.

How it came to be in Esker gins is far more down to earth – we tried it and it brought the other botanicals together perfectly! Silver birch is at the heart of how the Esker distillery came to be based on the Kincardine Estate. The Laird of the Estate invited us to tap the trees there, and when it came to looking for bigger distillery premises, the Estate was a natural fit.

A citrusy Gin, such Esker Valenican Orange or Silverglas London Dry, can be balanced with an earthy or herbaceous garnish such as rosemary or mint A family-run business led by husband & wife team, Steven & Lynne Duthie, Esker Spirits has evolved from a kitchen hobby, to distilling in the shed before, in April 2017, moving to premises in the beautiful Kincardine Estate on Royal Deeside, Aberdeenshire. And it’s here in Royal Deeside where the inspiration for Esker Spirits comes from – all the spirits contain the sap from silver birches which are everywhere around the distillery.

The gin reflects the life they live in the hills; first up, however, you have to meet Panza, the chocolate Labrador who is the CEO (well he likes to think he is!).We can’t wait to try their Oak Aged Gin, which has been aged for 30 days and apparently tastes like a cross between whisky and gin. Try these two in a Negroni. Makar Mulberry Aged, the sweet, smoky flavour quietly cuts through the Campari and really makes for a super enjoyable and very easy-to-drink Negroni. Next up is the slightly sweeter Garden Shed Côte-Rôtie Aged Gin. This is aged in an old wine barrique. This, honestly, is one of the best Negroni gins I have found. 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.

With gin drinking I tend to be drawn to more floral gins, or those which feature grapefruit/pink grapefruit as I enjoy the softness which it brings to the drink. The genesis of our gin begins in our recipe development lab; we deliberate, iterate, taste and repeat, creating over a hundred recipes in the pursuit of perfection, and we think we are pretty close. Why tea? Because Scotland has many historical links with the tea trade with several stemming from Aberdeenshire which is where the Founders are based. When they discovered the story of James Taylor – a young man from the area - who grew the very first commercial tea plantation in British Ceylon, they worked with tea consultant Beverly Wainwright to source a special loose leaf tea from the Amba Estate in Sri Lanka. It’s great to see Kirkjuvagr are investing a lot in Orkney; they are going to open an artisan distillery, visitor centre and shop on Kirkwall’s Ayre Road, the official opening is planned for next spring.Try Esker Raspberry Gin with fresh raspberries for that burst of colour and fragrance as well as some lemon zest to cut through the sweetness. The Chocolate Mint Gin has Liquorice, Vanilla, Mint and Chocolate, and their Mocha Gin has Grapefruit, Vanilla, Chocolate and Coffee. 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".