Boë’s braw botanical mix bursting with flavour

This was very much an impulse purchase off Amazon – having finished reviewing the gins such as Altitude that my Advent calendar had brought to our attention – but one we ended up feeling was well worth tapping the ‘Buy Now’ button on.

Having waited for our fellow gin enthusiast Mary to join us, pulling the stopper on Boë Scottish Gin brought a truly tantalising aroma: full of spice and zest, but the actual flavour was even better.  We paired our first taste of the 41.5^% distillation with a hunk of fresh orange (We hadn’t been able to find the recommended blood oranges) along with Fever Tree Indian tonic and ice for an experience which puts it up there with the best of the gins we’ve tried from North of the Border, where the native dialect often features ‘Braw’ to mean fine or good.

Our followers may recall that although we weren’t blown away by The Botanist, other brands like Aquine and Blackwoods were properly bracing, while Caorunn has held a spot in our Top Ten since we were given a bottle in the blog’s first year.  I think we’d need a refresher course in Caorunn before considering letting Boë take its place, but I have to wonder which would come out first in a blind tasting.  Certainly, with your eyes open, Boë’s got the prettier bottle, with thistles and other flora painted on the clear glass.

Sadly, the website seemed to be all style and very little substance so we’re not able to give you any real idea of the recipe or the distillers’ back story – other than the name being inspired by one Professor Franz de la Boë, who back in 1658 used juniper to infuse grain spirit while trying to create a medicine.  Nevertheless, the small batch process employed at Throsk near Stirling has brought them a well-deserved world spirits award.

The Boë distillers also produce various flavoured gin for around £30 – our Scottish version can be purchased for £25ish from supermarkets and online.