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G1 is a classic London Dry Gin although technically it also falls under the flavoured gin umbrella as it is flavoured by the heartsease flower.

G1 takes its flavour solely from distillation, which makes it a true London Dry Gin and has none of the colour or sugar often found in flavoured gins today. Instead, it features the heartsease flower, alongside a good punch of juniper, a zing of pink grapefruit zest and a veritable support act of 5 other botanicals, resulting in a London Dry Gin packed with flavour!

The heartsease flower’s natural aroma highlights the complex flavours within the gin and offers citrus, peppery, delicately floral and soft, sweet flavours. It also makes a brilliant and striking garnish. Other great garnishes you might consider are grapefruit zest on its own or coupled with a sprig of rosemary. If you like spice then try a scattering of green cardamom pods.

But why the heartsease in particular? This was inspired by my late Mum, Chrissy, who spent much of her time painting wild flowers, her favourite of which was the heartsease. Sadly, Mum died in 2000 from a sudden heart attack. The bottle is decorated with the silhouette of one of Mum’s paintings, which was painted whilst we were on a canal boat holiday when I was around 7.
Heartsease is a European wildflower. It is most commonly known as ‘viola tricolour’, as well as ‘heart’s ease’, ‘heart’s delight’ and the ‘wild pansy’. In ancient times this pansy was used in love potions because of its potency, which would explain its spectacular range of other charming and love-related nicknames, among them ‘Johnny jump up’, ‘Jack jump up and kiss me’, ‘tickle my fancy’, ‘come and cuddle me’, ‘three faces in a hood’, and ‘love in idleness’.

The Heartsease is a flower of remembrance. The name pansy comes from the 15th century French word ‘pencee’, from the verb ‘penser’, which means thought or remembrance. The flower symbolises the love or admiration of one person for another. The fact that heartsease flowers look stunning with their heart-shaped, overlapping petal ‘faces’ and offer a perfectly delicate flavour profile for an elegant London Dry Gin only made us love the idea more.
As the very first gin from Withers Gin, we simply named it G1. Huge thanks goes to Edward Gibson, Head Distiller, whose patience and guidance was invaluable in the development of our recipe. There are hundreds of different botanical ingredients for gin; working out the best combination and ratios was a labour of love, but such a rewarding one.

The process involved extensive research, investigation, experimentation, deliberation, development processes and an awful lot of arduous testing. This investment of time and patience landed us with a heavily edited palette of fine ingredients, whose individual flavours have the potential to support and complement our loving hero, the Heartsease flower. 
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