The World’s Most Whisky Friendly Island

The Botanist Gin welcomed a handful of Dallas area influencers and cocktail enthusiasts to a special mixology class and pop-up dinner featuring the adventurous cuisine of Misti Norris. The small-batch, artisanal gin hails all the way from the remote Scottish island of Islay.

It’s the only gin made on the whisky-famous island, but that’s not the only thing that makes it unique. The Botanist is made using nine classic gin aromatics and 22 locally grown botanicals, picked by a team of expert foragers. After an achingly slow distillation process, the resulting product is delicate, smooth and slightly floral. 

It makes sense then, that the brand chose Norris to dream up culinary pairings for The Botanist cocktails. The renowned Dallas-based chef is fiercely passionate about natural, local, and specifically foraged ingredients.

She put her foraging skills to the test for the three-course meal, conjuring up daring dishes like lily cake with Texas oats and tri tip with wild juniper and pickled oysters.

Before guests sat down for dinner, the Botanist’s mixologist Scott Fitzgerald led a (surprisingly easy) cocktail class. The subject: the Red Lady, a riff on the classic White Lady cocktail. Students found lemon juice, gin, Cointreau and red bell peppers at the mixing stations. The consensus on the bell pepper situation was unanimously skeptical, but the proof was in the punch. And the recipe takes less than five minutes to make.

Want to try it at home? Find the cheat sheet from The Botanist below.

Red Lady
Ingredients
·         The Botanist Gin – 2 oz.
·         Cointreau – 1 oz.
·         Fresh squeezed lemon juice – 1 oz.
·         Julienned red bell peppers – 6 strips
·         Orange bitters – 3 drops
Directions
1.       In a shaker tin, muddle red bell pepper
2.       Add all remaining ingredients
3.       Shake without ice vigorously
4.       Add ice and shake briskly
5.       Double-strain into a coupe glass
6.       Garnish with a julienned red bell pepper