Our Gins

A contemporary gin distilled with organic Cape Fynbos

African Botanical Gin

Celebrating South Africa’s distinctive fynbos, Hope African Botanical Gin is distilled from grain spirit and infused with eight botanicals.
These include hand-picked organic kapokbos, otherwise known as snowbush, and buchu from our unique floral kingdom.
Kapokbos is a wild sweet rosemary, which adds floral and herbaceous notes, and buchu is a small fragrant shrub that lends uniquely punchy blackcurrant notes. This is South Africa in a glass!

PALATE

Floral with blackcurrant and juniper.

Nose

Punchy fruit notes with hints of pine.

Finish

Complex finish which is subtly sweet.

A BATCH DISTILLED GIN INFUSED WITH

8 BOTANICALS

All of Hope Distillery’s gins are infused using a range of botanicals and aromatics. Sourcing the right ingredients and tracing their origin is very important to us and forms part of our ongoing pursuit of excellence

Juniper

The main flavouring in all gins, juniper is part of the cypress family and the berries (actually small cones) used in gin usually come from Italy, Serbia, Albania or Macedonia. Originally used to treat stomach pain, it’s been used for medicinal purposes for centuries. Currently we source our juniper berries from Albania. The flavouring comes from the essential oils within the berries: fragrant yet spicy with overtones of pine, this is the quintessential gin flavour!

Coriander

The second most important botanical in our gins, coriander seeds contain an essential oil called linalool which is spicy, fragrant yet with citrus notes. It provides lovely citrus top notes to gin and we’re pleased to say we source our coriander seeds locally.

Angelica Root

Angelica root is the third key botanical in our gins. Important because it binds the oils of the various botanicals together, marrying them to provide length (ie to ensure none of them fade away) and substance. On its own it’s a rather musty, rooty (think forest floors) flavour, but does also have citrus and pine notes. The dried root was an ancient remedy for digestive problems and is often used to flavour spirits and liqueurs.

Lemon Peel

We use the peels rather than the flesh of the fruit because the peels hold a high percentage of the fruit’s oils. Lemon peel works well with the coriander and provides fresh citrus lemon flavours.

Orange Peel

As with the lemon, we use the peels rather than the flesh, as this is where all the beautiful citrus orange oils lie.

Liquorice Root

The hard root of the liquorice plant (actually a legume) is used to add sweetness and softens the spirit. We use very little so the more obvious liquorice and anise flavours do not come through too strongly, but it contributes warming, sweet flavours to our African Botanical Gin.

Buchu

A small fragrant shrub, originally used for medicinal purposes, lends a punchy blackcurrant flavour to our African Botanical Gin. The small leaves contain all the oils.

Kapokbos

Sometimes known as Snowbush due to its fluffy cotton like flowers, Kapokbos is a wild sweet rosemary originally used for medicinal purposes.

DISCOVER OUR

PERFECT SERVE

THE PERFECT HOPE AFRICAN BOTANICAL G&T

1 part gin
4 parts Indian or Grapefruit tonic
Garnish with a slice of grapefruit and a sprig of thyme, or with a few muddled summer berries and mint