Raise A Toast To London Cocktail Week With The Botanist Gin And Blixen

This autumn, The Botanist – the first and only Islay Dry Gin – is partnering with Blixen bar to showcase a range of delicious, foraged cocktails during the seventh, annual London Cocktail Week. The Botanist is also challenging other bartenders from across the country to create their own foraged cocktail, introducing and encouraging a ‘Taste of Foraged Britain’.

Following an immersive foraging expedition with an expert forager and The Botanist’s Brand Ambassador – Abigail Clephane, Blixen’s bartenders were challenged to produce an innovative cocktail that would reflect their wild side. Each uncovered a range of ingredients on their doorsteps and infused these with The Botanist Gin in order to create foraged syrups, all using The Botanist Infuser (a handmade, state-of-the-art tool, being used for one of the first times in the realm of mixology in the UK). Blixen’s cocktail will be on offer throughout London Cocktail Week, priced at £5 for festival pass holders.

From Three Six Six – also in London, Mr Cooper’s in Manchester and The Milk Thistle in Bristol, to The Finnieston in Glasgow and The Bon Vivant in Edinburgh, bartenders will also use The Botanist Infuser in a bid to have their cocktail creation featured on Blixen’s menu during London Cocktail Week.

For the even more adventurous, Blixen will also play host to The Botanist cocktail master classes – also led by Abigail Clephane. Two one-hour cocktail masterclasses will take place on Wednesday 5th (4pm) and Friday 7th September (5pm) in Blixen’s Garden – a beautiful sanctuary with plant-entwined pergolas, mirroring the foraged nature of The Botanist. Priced at £15, register for tickets via the London Cocktail Week website.

Richard Knight, General Manager at Blixen, says, “We’re delighted to be working with The Botanist over London Cocktail Week – such a popular time in all drink lovers’ diaries. Experimenting with different flavours is at the heart of what we do, so developing a foraged cocktail and offering masterclasses in Blixen’s Garden marries so well with The Botanist. We look forward to seeing what cocktail connoisseurs think of our cocktail!”

The Botanist is the first and only dry gin from Islay, Scotland. Handcrafted and distilled on Islay, The Botanist is a truly unique, premium gin and a representation of the region’s progressive heritage. Nine classic gin botanicals are augmented by 22 local herbs and flowers, all foraged responsibly by hand by botanical scientists from the hills, shores and bogs of the Hebridean Island.