Warner Edwards Farmed & Foraged Gin

Note: I pester Emile and Olivier over at Gin Foundry a lot and at Junipalooza they kindly handed me an apple mint plant and told me to be patient. Two months later, they have now gifted me a little bottle of gin to go with the garnish, but as always, I’ll let you know what I think.

Team Warner EdwardsEven newbies to the gin game should recognise Warner Edwards, if not, they are basically the people that made the first rhubarb gin. They also make lots of other yummy gins, I’m particularly in love with their Honeybee gin with lemon, honey and a splash of hot water whenever I have a cold. They are very big on sustainability and grow many of their own botanicals (including the honey from their own bees) from their farm. They use water from their spring and are believers in good things coming to those that wait; no over harvesting here. Instead they try to put more back into the soil than they take. They’ve been besties with the Gin Foundry crew for a while, being one of the few brands that have been involved with Junipalooza from the beginning, and they have now teamed up for a limited edition gin. They gave the team at Warner Edwards a challenge – only use botanicals within a three mile bee flight of the distillery. They wanted to look at not just the botanicals that work together, but how the environment can shape a flavour profile and working with the land around you from planting through to harvesting.

Farmed and Foraged gin

This approach fits with the Warner Edwards ethos, but also presented a challenge – if you can’t use citrus fruits, coriander seeds or angelica root, what do you put in your gin? Luckily within the three mile radius they have a plethora of goodies including lemon thyme, lemon verbena, lavender, chamomile leaves, bee pollen, dandelion root, toasted applewood and some homegrown green juniper (note: some juniper is also bought in from further away, but they understand that real gin actually tastes of juniper so needed to up the game slightly). Each bottle is preceded with a pack of seeds so you can grow your own apple mint garnish. My seeds seem to be struggling, but luckily I have a pregrown one to fall back on. So, how does it taste?

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Warner Edwards Honeybee Gin

It’s June which can only mean two things – it’s nearly World Gin Day and I’ve got a Craft Gin Club delivery! Firstly can I say how much I’m enjoying the new branded boxes guys – they look SO much chirpier than the old plain ones! Secondly, this is a bumper box. We have the world exclusive look at the new Warner Edwards Honeybee gin. That’s right, they have chosen the lucky Craft Gin Clubbers as the first people to get their hands on the new addition to their Botanical Garden range. Also in the box is a miniature of their Elderflower Gin, a bottle of Franklin & Sons Lemon Tonic, a bag of Burts Firecracker Lobster crisps and a bar of Mighty Fine Dark Chocolate and Honeycomb. Nom nom nom.

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