The Yorkshire Explorer distillery launches four new gins made from foraged produce

The Yorkshire Explorer Distillery combined botanicals sourced from across Yorkshire to create the new spirits.

The alcohol producer is part of the Yorkshire Bartender brand, a drinks consultancy and events business created by Callum Houston in 2016. He also owns the Forage Bar & Kitchen in York.

Mr Houston said: “When I launched the gin distillery during the pandemic, the philosophy was always to create incredible spirits using locally sourced, sustainable produce.

“Distilling gin in the heart of Yorkshire using a range of botanicals from across the county means that we can champion Yorkshire produce.

“Foragers at heart, we enjoy nothing more than distilling and infusing our finds with our range of spirits. I’m passionate about playing around with flavours to create a range of signature drinks that will appeal to all taste buds.”

The new gins include Grapefruit & Elderflower, which combines elderflower, juniper, coriander seed, cardamon, lemon peel and grapefruit peel. Elderflower cordial is produced in-house during June from elderflowers collected from the local woodlands surrounding the distillery. The grapefruit skins are a by-product from the fresh grapefruit juice used within the Forage Bar & Kitchen.

The Yorkshire Garden includes fresh elderflower, cucumber, lemon, mint and pressed apple juice. Mint and cucumber which is left over from the event side of the business are distilled using the vacuum still to get the essence of each flavour. They are then blended with the gin and elderflower cordial.

Yorkshire Dry combines juniper with tobacco leaf, tonka, lemon verbena, cardamon, bay and lemon verbena and Forced Rhubarb includes Yorkshire forced rhubarb, ginger and cardamom, which are cold distilled and mixed with the house dry gin. The pulp left over from the forced rhubarb distillation is then blended into a syrup which is added to the gin.