Armed With a Full-Time Forager, Ireland’s Glendalough Distillery Is Making Excellent Gin

Glendalough Wild Botanical and Wild Rose Gin are pictured at the brand’s forageable botanical wall activation at Chicago’s Wicker Park Festival.

Tucked in the Wicklow mountains just south of Dublin is Glendalough Distillery. Founded in 2011, Glendalough is one of Ireland’s oldest craft distillers and produces several expressions of whiskey and gin.

If you find yourself hiking among the distillery’s lush surroundings, you might just stumble upon Geraldine Kavanagh, Glendalough’s full-time forager. Spending her days traversing the mountains and collecting the 37 botanicals that go into Glendalough’s flagship gin expression, Kavanagh’s job harkens back to the prehistoric days of hunters and gatherers.

“Foraging is a year-round practice that ensures our gin has captured flavors from each of the seasons,” Kavanagh said during an event hosted by Glendalough in Chicago. “Spring, summer, autumn and winter, I’m out foraging and capturing the flavors of fresh, wild botanicals that grow all around our distillery.”

Kavanagh was in town for the Wicker Park Festival, where Glendalough premiered an impressive forageable plant wall, where guests stopped by to pick their own plants, herbs and flowers from the wall, which were swiftly gathered into a bouquet for each visitor by Glendalough staff.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Bottle Raiders (@bottleraiders)

“It’s kind of a piece of art, but it’s also an invitation to engage with wild botanicals — which are the essence of our gin — and highlight the breadth of nature that goes into every drop of gin that we make in our distillery at Glendalough,” Kavanagh said about the wall.

While not all of the botanicals on the wall at the festival were precisely the sort Kavanagh forages back in the Wicklow mountains, she said the activation made her feel “right at home” and gave visitors a small taste of what she does for work.

About Glendalough’s Gins

Glendalough two flagship gins are Wild Botanical and Wild Rose. Containing nearly 40 botanicals, Glendalough’s Wild Botanical Gin is made thanks to a lot of hard work from Kavanagh and her co-workers.

Procuring the botanicals in itself takes a great deal of effort, but beyond that, there’s the task of determining how much of each ingredient to use.

“It’s just like when you’re cooking, you know? You use a little bit of something, a lot of something else,” Kavanagh explained.

Glendalough’s complex recipe has proven to be a hit; Wild Botanical Gin holds an impressive Raided Score® of 90. Click here to see how the experts reviewed it.

Glendalough Wild Rose Gin is much different from its counterpart. It’s made to honor the mother of Glendalough’s head distiller, Ciaran “Rowdy” Rooney, who died in 2014. Glendalough sources roses from Rooney’s mother’s garden to make this gin, giving it a soft, pink hue. Beyond the roses, this gin is made with juniper, citrus peel, berries and pink peppercorn — far fewer ingredients than the Wild Botanical Gin but still plenty tasty. Click here to see what the critics think of Glendalough Wild Rose Gin.

Glendalough’s gins can be found for an affordable price of around $30 each. Click here to find Glendalough Wild Botanical Gin and here to find Glendalough Wild Rose Gin at a Total Wine near you.

Here at The Daily Pour, we do more than write about current events in spirit. We are the only media property reviewing spirits and aggregating the scores and reviews of other significant voices in the spirit world in one place. If you’re interested in getting a shot of spirit in your morning email, sign up for our Whiskey Deal of the Day Newsletter