Alchemy, Distillation and Botanical Folklore

Did you know that rubbing yarrow under your eyes could give you the gift of second sight? Or that it only takes four to five juniper berries to flavour a whole bottle of gin? Hendrick’s UK Ambassador Duncan McRae ran through the history of distillation, stories about the different ingredients in gin and their medicinal and magical properties, the development of gin and even some recipes from occultist Aleister Crowley that included substances like laudanum and ether. It felt a little like research in progress, but you couldn’t help but be carried along by McRae’s infectious enthusiasm for the subject and the stream of fascinating facts.

Hendrick’s Carnival of Knowledge, 27 May 2013

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