Portobello Road Gin have created the first ever London Dry Gin made with British asparagus. The limited edition’Director’s Cut’ distillation contains a unique blend of botanicals including asparagus from Cambridgeshire, harvested by Director Paul Lane this June.

The concept of the’Director’s Cut’ edition was conceived by the four Directors of Portobello Road Gin: Ged Feltham, Paul Lane, Jake Burger and Tom Coates following a long-term desire to produce a unique gin with botanicals hand-sourced by themselves.

Crafted in still’Copernicus the Second’, then bottled and labelled by hand at London’s second smallest museum the’Ginstitute‘ on Portobello Road, 1,000 bottles of this distinctively nutty-flavoured spirit will be available to buy to celebrate the anniversary of Portobello Road Gin’s discovery in 2011.

Paul worked with British asparagus producer Will Aveling to source 10kg of spears March in Cambridgeshire during the last days of the asparagus season this June, tasting and selecting the thinnest spears due to their high concentration of flavour.

Once picked, Paul hand delivered the spears to Master Blender Jake, who distilled the unique blend of botanicals to create the curious concoction which has the classic juniper forward character of Portobello Road Gin but with a most unusual hint of asparagus on the nose and that distinct and sweet flavor right the way through the palate. The sweetness is counteracted by the dry, bitter character of the small amount of Gentaian Root which also has a slight mineral flavor (reminiscent of wet slate) with the spicy, long finish of Portobello Road and a punchy 47% ABV.

Paul Lane comments “We take immense pride in our craft when producing Portobello Road Gin, distilling with integrity and individuality. But with the Director’s Cut we’re able to take our passion for experimentation to a whole new level.”

“We’ve been experimenting with the more unusual botanicals for years and have dreamed of hand-picking our own botanicals to go into a special edition gin. We actually use asparagus as a botanical at Ginstitute, where gin fans can come up with their own creation but this is the first time we’ve worked with an asparagus producer directly to handpick the spears from the ground for a gin that customers can buy. This is not a gin for everybody but those who like it love it. Before you ask, no it doesn’t…”

Portobello Road Gin: The Director’s Cut is on sale at www.portobelloroadgin.com and selected independent retailers on . RRP £39 for 70cl.