This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
News
Devil’s Botany launches Absinthe Regalis
UK-based Devil’s Botany Distillery has expanded its portfolio with Absinthe Regalis, a bottling inspired by an 18th-century recipe.
Devil’s Botany, said to be London’s first absinthe distillery, has launched an absinthe with ingredients drawn from a recipe dated 1719, but created with its ‘own modern twist’.
Allison Crawbuck, co-founder of Devil’s Botany Distillery, said: “We spent over half a decade researching the history of absinthe, specifically interested in its origins as a cure-all elixir.
“Hidden within the recipe books of London’s apothecaries, we found an 18th-century recipe for an early precursor to absinthe that predates the first Swiss or French distilleries by nearly a century.”
The original recipe makes a clear-coloured absinthe, but Devil’s Botany coloured the liquid emerald green using locally sourced botanicals such as milk thistle and white dead nettle.
Absinthe Regalis is copper pot distilled with British wheat spirit and 22 botanicals, including grand wormwood, green anise, sage, galangal and fennel seed.
It is infused with cinnamon, cardamom and nutmeg, and the resulting expression boasts “deeply herbaceous and luxuriously spiced” notes, according to Rhys Everett, co-founder and distiller at Devil’s Botany Distillery.
The brand recommends serving Absinthe Regalis stirred down over ice, with one part absinthe and two to three parts still or sparkling water.
“Absinthe played such an integral part in London’s history of classic cocktails,” said Everett.
“After the Prohibition halted the sale and production of alcohol in the United States, bartenders flocked to London to continue their craft. Classic cocktail culture experienced a heyday in London during the 1920s and 30s.
“With absinthe never made illegal here, bartenders continued to use the spirit to enhance the flavour and aroma of their cocktails.”
Devil’s Botany portfolio also includes London Dry Gin and London Absinthe.
The 700ml bottle rests at 63% ABV, and can be purchased for RRP £64.95 (US$75.31).