South Africa Craft Distillery, Six Dogs, recently released an opulent blue gin, simply called Six Dogs Blue.
Nestled between the Breede River Valley and the Hex River Valley in the Western Cape, Six Dogs infuses this small batch craft gin with the Blue Pea (Clitoria Ternatea) flower to give it its unusual bright blue colour. The Blue Pea, also known as the Asian pigeonwing, is commonly used through-out Southeast Asia as a food colouring, as well as in Chinese medicine thanks to it antioxidant properties. Added bonus: It’s also know as a natural aphrodisiac 😉
Although the distillery currently source the plant from Indonesia, they started cultivating it on their farm to see how it will adapt to the South African climate.
The alchemy of this botanical is further revealed when the Gin is mixed with a good tonic, changing the colour to light pink.
And as chance would have it, ‘Blue’ is also the name of one for the six dogs on the farm.
