Botanic Gin Project
A Botanic journey begins
The creation of Botanic Landscape Architects in July 2022 gave us the freedom to intertwine our personal and professional interests and to push the boundaries of what landscape architecture can be. As our name suggests, we are passionate about plants (aka plant nerds) and we are constantly exploring new approaches to planting design and ways of engaging people with botanical sensation.
As a new boutique studio looking to make our mark on the local scene, we needed to celebrate our arrival as a design practice, express our identity and reach out to our community of clients and collaborators. We decided our Botanic launch party should be interactive, educational and enable those attending to experience landscape in a different way.
Building on Adrian’s interest in crafting conceptual gin and our knowledge of Ōtautahi Christchurch’s new post-earthquake urban plantings, we made the Botanic launch party a live gin crafting event. Those attending could assist with crafting a gin from freshly foraged botanicals growing in the public urban spaces near the Botanic studio. Like designing a planting composition, crafting a gin uses the flavour and fragrant properties of each plant to design an overall composition.
We are literally creating the taste of our urban landscape!
From the resounding success of the launch party, the idea has evolved and now become an annual event. When the chosen flowers were in bloom, early November 2023, we hosted a group of 22 people to forage the urban botanicals and then all co-craft the gin together. Everyone was guided through the full process, took home their own sample and additional bottles are given to our clients and collaborators as appreciation gifts.
Our ongoing gin and planting explorations has enabled new ways for people to experience the urban environment. The project captures many aspects of Botanics values and identity: innovative planting design, knowledge sharing, creating community, being appreciative and having fun.
The idea is simple, yet far reaching and delicious!
Designing a gin
Gin is a neutral base spirit which is infused with flavour and fragrance from botanicals. When people say “isn’t gin just flavoured vodka?”, they’re essentially right. But once you’ve crafted a gin and curated a subtle flavour profile from select botanicals, you’ll never want to spoil it by adding tonic. We reckon a gin and tonic is only as good as the tonic. If there’s one thing you take away from reading this, we recommend mixing your craft gin with soda and an extra-large ice cube.
Our Botanic Gin uses a vapor infusion process, where alcohol is evaporated through a copper still containing the botanicals, extracts their flavours as it passes and is then condensed. Our wee still, named ‘Billie’, takes about 3 hours to craft 1.5 litres of gin, enough time to get to know your fellow foragers.
The recipe designed by Botanic, seeks to understand and balance each plant's flavour profile to create the final composition. The Launch Gin used 5 dried and 12 fresh botanicals, and the Urban Gin added another 3 fresh botanicals.
Dried Botanicals:
Coriander, Juniper, Orris Root, Angelica and Cardamon.
Freshly Foraged Botanicals:
Florals
Tī kōuka, Cordyline australis
Koromiko, Hebe spp.
Tauhinu, Ozothamnus leptophyllus
Kaiwhiria, Parsonsia capsularis
Lavender, Lavandula angustifolia
Piny
Tōtara, Podocarpus totara
Mānuka, Leptospermum scoparium
Kānuka, Kunzea ericoides
Spicy
Horopito, Pseudowintera colorata
Kawakawa, Piper excelsum
Citrus
Tarata, Pittosporum eugenioides
Mexican orange blossom, Choisya ternata
Musky
Oioi, Apodasmia similis
Kahikatea, Dacrycarpus dacrydioides
Pollen
Wharariki, Phormium cookianum
All hands on deck
We’re all in this together and all participants contribute to each step of the process:
Foraging fresh botanicals from local urban public plantings – Te Ara Pū Hā – The South Frame Greenway and New Regent Street
Weighing each botanical on micro scales to a 0.1g precision
Setting up and starting the distillation
Tasting the flavour spectrum and learning when to section off the gin - heads and tails
Combining proportions from each section to create the final flavour profile
Bottling and labelling the samples (from batches we’d made the previous day)
Tasting the urban landscape and taking your own sample home
The taste of the gin is.. delicious! As we are told by all that have tried it, and we reckon it’s pretty decent too.
Nose: Sweet and floral with citrus undertones.
Palette: A spicy and piny freshness leads to a citrus earthiness which finishes brightly with bright floral notes that linger long with a sweetness and peppery hint.
“I’ve never smelt cabbage tree flowers before”
An inspiring moment was seeing a whole group of people smelling a tī kōuka/cabbage tree flower for the first time and saying, “I never realised they smell so sweet”. The discovery of the fragrance of tī kōuka lead to it becoming the feature botanical accent in the gin.
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. Along the journey there have been many other botanical discoveries:
The flavour differences between kānuka (lighter) and mānuka (stronger)
New growth has less flavour than the older, more resinous leaves (tōtara, tarata)
Plants growing in the sun have more flavour than in shade (horopito and lavender)
Small, subtle flowers can be highly aromatic (tauhinu and kaiwhiria)
The different timing of tī kōuka flowering due to local climatic conditions
As self-proclaimed plant nerds, learning about new plant properties has been a real joy.
Growing a community
Over the past decade, the crafted botanical gin scene has grown exponentially. Our gin project gives the opportunity for people to learn about how to craft gin, a range of plant properties and their local urban landscape. In a world saturated with digital information, it provides a hands-on, practical experience which can be taken away and shared. Following the launch event, three people were inspired to get their own gin still.
With society still reconnecting from covid related lockdowns and working from home, a key aspect of the project was bringing people together. The events have invited local architects, designers, engineers, developers, educators, clients and fellow landscape architects. Growing a community around us is important for both professional and social nutrition. We do wonder at times if we’re essentially creating a gin cult!
Connecting people with our new city centre
A key aspect of the gin foraging walks was to guide people through Ōtautahi Christchurch’s new urban landscapes. The post-earthquake rebuild has seen the landscape architecture profession create a variety of new urban spaces. They have been designed to tell stories, be people friendly and create ecological habitat through biodiverse plantings.
While foraging along the Te Ara Pū Hā South Frame Greenway (designed by Jasmax and Landlab), participants learned about the cultural plant uses depicted on signs by Matapopore; the origin of each plants indigenous ecosystem as developed by Di Lucas; crushed, smelt and tasted the botanicals; and heard design insights about the new spaces. Once distilled, the foraged urban plantings could then be smelt and tasted as a gin, something never done before.
The gin project is not only an expression of Ōtautahi Christchurch’s ‘Sense of Place’, but has become a catalyst for people to directly engage with it, sometimes for the first time. A common remark along the walks has been “I never knew these spaces existed!”
The gift that keeps on ginning
Enough 50ml sample bottles were made to continue sharing them with our clients, collaborators and design community as appreciation gifts. When visiting architects studios, our main source of projects, we often spot our Botanic gin bottles on their desks, like a keepsake, some still unopened! In some ways, it’s our alternative to a business card.
When hosting in our studio, we have samples from the different flavour profiles expressed during the distillation process - sweet and fragrant (the heads), well balanced (the middle) and woody (the tails). We can only forage when the flowers are in bloom in early November, but the experience can be shared all year round.
The gin projects influence can be measured by the compliments received from those involved and the curiosity and excitement of those first hearing about it. Some invitees have invited others and we keep track of any gin lovers we meet who are interested in coming along.
We currently have a client who is keen to establish a gin botanical foraging garden. When they are ready, we plan to craft a gin based on the designed planting palette, which they will be served and tasted when presenting the design report. They will literally be ‘tasting their garden’. If this sounds like a bit of you, get in touch!
Doing the right thing
When foraging we only take what is needed. The quantities of the fresh botanicals range from 0.1 gram to 4 grams per batch. We make 3 consecutive batches per year, so the overall impact we deem is negligible and sustainable. This project demonstrates how the ecosystem services have been innovatively used and are enhancing the value of the mahinga kai and natural resources.
Botanic are also committed to minimising our carbon footprint by harnessing the local. Although this project doesn’t have built outcomes in the landscape, it still exemplifies our responsibility as stewards of the environment:
Fresh botanicals were locally sourced by walking
The base spirit was made in a local suburb
The water used was collected from a local artesian well with recycled bottles
Events used washable glassware, recycled paper napkins and served locally made plant based food
Any green waste was composted locally
Empty sample bottles could be returned and refilled
The gin project promotes food resilience through local foraging, especially in urban spaces with high population density. During the walks, we point out kai species and safe areas away from exhaust fumes which can be harvested sustainably - many people didn’t realise this was possible or that you were allowed to.
Tasting our urban landscape
The ‘taste of our urban landscape’ concept has received wider interest in the local community including an art gallery who appreciated its concept as a multisensory expression of the landscape. With no commercial intentions in mind, we are always open to expanding the project and its value to a wider audience. We only make about 4 litres per year to be given away and not sold.
To our delight, the Botanic Gin Project has just been shortlisted in the NZ Institute of Landscape Architects 2024 Awards. In the category He Iti Pounamu: Ahakoa he iti, he pounamu - Although small, it is of great value. A key criteria is how landscape design has achieved a high level of invention, innovation and creativity which has created value. Our fingers and toes are crossed!
This still feels like the beginning of a beautiful journey and the Botanic Gin Project will continue to evolve. Botanic is only a year and a half old, and as landscape architects, we have never been happier. At our core is connecting people with their landscape in inspiring ways, growing a community and simply having fun. If you’re ever passing by our bright yellow door on St Asaph Street, feel welcome to pop into our co-share design studio and have a wee taste of your urban landscape.
