Overview
You've strolled through its lush expanse, you've picnicked on its grassy lawns and you've probably bent to sniff a few of its vibrant blooms. Well, now, you can experience the Royal Botanic Gardens from a whole new angle: your tastebuds.
Geelong-based distillery Anther has teamed up with the historic precinct to create a new gin made using plants grown on-site.
Dubbed Florescence — meaning, 'the process of flowering' or to develop 'richly and fully' — the experimental spirit was crafted exclusively on ingredients grown at the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne and Cranbourne.
Anther
It incorporates a slew of native Australian additions such as alpine pepper, violet kunzea and alpine baeckea, along with more familiar botanicals including juniper, orange peel and coriander seeds. Ingredients like finger lime, lemon myrtle and liquorice root also get a look-in.
They've been pulled together into one delicate, aromatic sip, by award-winning distillery Anther, whose distillers worked closely with the Gardens' botanists and scientists to select the perfect botanical balance. And the resulting gin has even been given the taste-test tick of approval by the Gardens' Director and Chief Executive Professor Tim Entwisle.
You can grab a bottle from Anther's online store, as well as from the distillery's usual stockists. Anther's previous creations include the Dry Gin, a cherry-infused gin and a Chocolate Gin.
To get your hands on a bottle of Florescence, head to the Anther website or check out its usual stockists.
Images: Anther