Highland Boundary distillery has released Wild Scottish Bitters, described as the world’s first wild Scottish aromatic cocktail bitters, in a bid to reconnect people with nature.

Bitters are an essential part of many classic cocktails and are usually made with tropical plants and imported from overseas, resulting in a large carbon footprint. The new product is made using only sustainably harvested wild Scottish botanicals and is intended to help Scotland reach its Net Zero target.

Its recipe has been seven years in development, with each botanical ingredient individually prepared using specific maturation conditions.

Marian Bruce co-founded Highland Boundary, which is based in Alyth, Perthshire. She explained the production process further: “We work individually with each wild plant to determine the conditions to extract the best flavour, then we combine them to achieve the final recipe that brings an aromatic bitterness essential to cocktails and which enhances the flavours of the other cocktail ingredients.”

The distillery sees itself as reviving and modernising ancient traditions and the cultural use of Scotland’s native plants in spirits. Co-founder Simon Montador said: “We have lost the cultural connection with most of our native flora in Scotland.

“At Highland Boundary distillery we work only with wild Scottish plants to research and restore this knowledge and aim to reconnect people back to nature through the unique flavours found in our wild landscapes.”