A new limited-edition gin is capturing the essence of the outdoors with botanicals foraged from the wild.
Named ForaGIN, the spirit is crafted by York Gin using ingredients gathered from meadows and riverbanks around York by foraging expert Carl Wain.
The gin features four locally foraged botanicals: lime tree flower, pineapple weed, hogweed seed and cow parsley seed, all gathered by Mr Wain over the summer.
Mr Wain, who is also deputy chief executive of Age UK York, said: "Every plant in this gin grew wild within a walk of the city.
"Hogweed seed that smells of cardamom and orange, lime blossom loud with bees, cow parsley frothing the lanes in May.
"York's riverbanks and hedgerows are a larder most people walk straight past.
"It's a real pleasure to see them distilled into a lovely spirit."
It is the first release in York Gin’s new Distiller’s Cut series and has an ABV of 47.5 per cent, making it stronger than the standard range.
A spokesperson for York Gin said: "To develop this gin, we distilled small quantities of locally foraged botanicals separately in small copper stills at York Distillery.
"Distilling each foraged plant on its own allowed us to identify each plant's flavour characteristics.
"We then blended these distilled spirits into our London Dry gin by hand, measure by measure, until this new Distiller's Cut came perfectly into balance."
Only 200 bottles are being made, with £2 from each bottle going directly to Age UK York.