Forest Gin gets its name from its beautiful surroundings in the Macclesfield Forest.
Here it finds its home, and it’s botanicals, with all its ingredients being hand foraged by the Bond family, who founded the distillery in their kitchen.
They still work out of their kitchen but with the rising interest in Forest Gin it’s not inconceivable that they could be moving to a full scale distillery soon.
Forest gin is the brainchild of Karl and Lindsay Bond, as well as their nine-year-old daughter Harriet of course.
They both love Gin and decided to turn their passion into a product when they started distilling for fun and soon realised their combination of juniper and hyper local botanicals worked perfectly.
Forest gin was born and today is sold in several outlets including Harvey Nicols. Their range is also expanding, having added an Earl Grey gin to the roster earlier this year.
Fans of forest gin are drawn to the taste as well as the striking porcelain bottle that it is held in. This bottle brings yet more local charm to an already very localised product.
The bottle is hand made by Wade ceramics, who have been crafting porcelain in Staffordshire since 1810. Tit is then adorned with a gorgeous woodland theme made by papercut artist Suzy Taylor.
There is a wonderfully authentic feel to Forest Gin and its hyper locality and small batch nature make it truly unique.
It’s also a fantastic liquid. Once you get into the porcelain bottle it becomes clear why the Bonds choose to package their product so wonderfully.
Everything about this Gin is a celebration, not only of where it comes from, but also of Gin itself.
The flavour is incredible, and the quality of the ingredients really springs to life.
Forest Gin is made from around sixteen botanicals, including juniper, angelica, coriander and liquorice, wildraspberries, bilberries and blackberries, moss and ferns, bark, pine,and wild flowers. Aside form the first four in that list, all of these are locally foraged.
The nose is full of coriander and juniper, with a lovely earthy quality to it.
On the palate, these are thick and woody. They are perfectly complemented by the moss and ferns, which bring a freshness to the Gin.
The spicy quality of the coriander and liquorice is warming but not over powering.
The palate is like walking through a damp forest, with the aroma of soft wood, bark and flowers all around you.
It finishes with a typical London Dry quality and a gentle reminder of juniper and pine.