Glendalough Irish Gin is progressively crafted with fresh, wild botanicals, hand-picked by the distillery’s full-time Forager Geraldine Kavanagh to capture the purest expression of the rich land of Glendalough through the depth of flavour in its luxury gins.
And today, Glendalough Distillery proudly launches a standout new bottle design internationally for Glendalough Irish Gin, inspired by this unique story of people and place.
Created in homage to the bountiful valley of Glendalough, the new bottle has been designed to look as though it has been picked straight from the forest floor.
St. Kevin, the founder of Glendalough’s monastery, stands as a strong but gentle guardian on the front of the new bottle instilling his legacy of reverence for the land he discovered. Walking in his footsteps, Geraldine Kavanagh, Ireland’s only full-time forager now tends to Wicklow’s forests and valleys – the birthplace of Glendalough Distillery.
Treading lightly and never taking too much from one place, Geraldine considerately forages for fresh and flavourful ingredients all year round to capture the four Irish seasons in every bottle of Glendalough Irish Gin.
Her care for the land is preserved on the new bottle design with an embossed woven pattern sitting at the base, representing the handwoven basket with which she forages daily.
From the foot of the bottle, the wild botanicals that Geraldine forages grow and are beautifully embossed around the bottle reflecting the ingredients such as sorrel, elderflower and fir that create the distinct notes of Glendalough Wild Botanical Irish Gin.
Amongst the bottle’s embossed botanicals, reverent nods to Glendalough’s ancient past can also be found including the Monastery Archway, Seven Churches and Deer Stone, further evoking the profound sense of place of Glendalough.
Commenting on the launch, Forager with Glendalough Distillery, Geraldine Kavanagh says:
“The inspiration for the flavour of our gin comes from the scents, sights and tastes of Glendalough and it’s my job to put that essence of place into the bottle. The ingredients that we use grow in the wild and we take a lot of care to ensure that we don’t adversely affect the areas we forage from. To see the story of Glendalough and our process come to life in the new bottle design is really special and a reminder of the significance of preserving the beautiful, wild land around us.”
When it comes to the distillation process, time is of the essence. Every day, within hours of foraging, Geraldine’s harvest is handed to Ciarán “Rowdy” Rooney, Glendalough Distillery’s Head Distiller, who then uses small-batch slow-distillation to tease out the delicate flavours. Glendalough Distillery’s Wild Botanical Irish Gin serves the taste of ‘a year in every bottle’ and perfectly captures a place in time, with four seasons of foraging in wild Wicklow encapsulated in every bottle.
Rowdy also created Glendalough Wild Rose Irish Gin as a tribute to his late mother, which is now bottled in the new design. This award-winning gin was first created to toast his late mother Rose at his brother’s wedding and is carefully crafted using fresh rose petals from her own garden to create an exceptional gin.
Reflecting Glendalough Distillery’s respect for the land, the team are engaging with The Pure Mile, dedicating time and resources to litter picks and clean ups in the Wicklow Mountains to assist Pure to enhance the area.
The new bottles of Glendalough Wild Botanical Irish Gin and Glendalough Wild Rose Irish Gin are now available nationwide in SuperValu, O’Briens, Tesco, Celtic Whiskey Shop, Carryout, Molloys, all good independent off licences and on the Glendalough Distillery website. RRP €44.