Have you seen the blossom?

If you’ve recently spent some time in nature, you’ll likely have noticed the blossom.

It’s brief and beautiful sight. Only occurring for a short window of time as the world transitions to spring. The sunlight flows back to the forests and hedgerows, and the trees that looked decidedly dead through the winter burst back to life in an awe-inspiring display of soft colours.

Such sights and occasions did not escape societies long before our times either.

The spring blossom is filled with both myth and legend. Some cultures believed that the flowering branches and their new signs of life brought luck and magic. Others, such as some societies in Ireland, suggested hawthorn trees were the place where fairies resided, and the blossom was linked to this.

Here at Snowdonia Distillery, we’ve always had a close and interconnected relationship with our surroundings and the waters and botanicals that grow around us.

We live and work in a lush green land.

For us, the spring blossom is most definitely a time of magic. It signals the growth of apples – one of the key ingredients in Foragers Yellow Label Gin.

That gives Yellow Label that unmistakable subtle sweetness and makes it the perfect gin for a summer-feeling Gin and Tonic.

When we first started developing Foragers Yellow Label Gin in 2014, we first had to map out, test and try what botanicals were around us, what worked and what didn’t.

We ended up with 57 botanicals to try.

Some were amazing. Others were not.  

Bay Leaf was one that never made anything taste good! Although I had high hope of this leaf bringing savoury notes to the taste profile – I couldn’t make it work. It turned into this kind of medicinal-tasting spirit.

Foragers Yellow Label uses just six botanicals.

We don’t use coriander or cardamon, citrus or vanilla. Why? Because they’re not found around us.

It made it a hard gin to create as we had to deviate from the very traditional recipes that most gins today build on top of.

But then we we’re trying to make just another gin.

It was a risk. But looking back, standing here with my Foragers Yellow Label Gin and Tonic in hand, looking at the apple blossom in front of me, the reviews, loyalty, medals and awards this spirit has received over the years stand testament to what it achieved.

Cheers

Chris Marshall, Master Distiller