Independent, botanical spirit specialist Sweetdram has launched new absinthe using botanicals grown in its Edinburgh distillery garden, in a collaborative project with local company Radicle Gardens.

Founders Daniel Fisher and Andrew MacLeod Smith have set the goal of making the distillery as sustainable as possible, with the additional of a hyper-local addition to the company’s current range, the Sweetdram Wild Absinthe.

In addition, their botanical garden now offers vital habitat for wildlife, a greenspace on the industrial estate, and a resource for this first full spirit run, after a successful test batch in 2021.

On-site planting began in 2020 followed by the full range of botanicals (see notes) in Spring 2021 to ensure production manager MacLeod Smith had a fully stocked plot.

“Utilising our outdoor space, and working with Radicle, has been a really exciting project,” MacLeod Smith said.

It has provided me with additional creativity in my distilling, and real ownership of the process ‘garden-to-glass’. None of our other products have such a short supply chain and that’s been really rewarding for everyone involved.”

At 46% alcohol by volume (ABV), the Sweetdram Wild Absinthe offers a lighter and more approachable take on the notorious green spirit which is typically bottled at the upper end of the 45-74% ABV spectrum. It has been reinvented to be a different type of wild, and green in more ways than one.