An exciting and unusual gin from Islay whisky distillery Bruichladdich, The Botanist is made in a Lomond still christened Ugly Betty and contains no fewer than 31 botanicals, of which 22 are native to the Southern Hebridean island itself. The latter include the likes of mugwort, meadowsweet and the enigmatic Lady's Bedstraw flowers, and the resultant dry gin is described, perhaps unsurprisingly, as 'floral'. As the name suggests, discussing The Botanist is first and foremost a discussion around the botanicals they use and how they distil them. To begin with, the team source 9 classic botanicals (juniper berries, angelica root, cassia bark, cinnamon bark, coriander seed, lemon peel, orange peel, liquorice root and orris root) from around the world. They then bring together a further 22 locally sourced botanicals, hand picked by foragers who search across the hills, bogs and shores of Islay to find apple mint birch leaves, downy birch, bog myrtle leaves, sweet chamomile, creeping thistle flowers, elderflower, gorse flowers, heather flowers, hawthorn flowers, juniper (prostrate) berries, Lady’s Bedstraw flowers, lemon balm, meadowsweet, spearmint leaves, mugwort leaves, red clover flowers, sweet cicely leaves, tansy, thyme leaves, water mint leaves, white clover and finally wood sage leaves.