Love gin? Think apple orchards are simply enchanting? Read on. On September 30 Caorunn (pronounced “ka-roon”), the handcrafted Scottish gin, is transforming the Oast House, Spinningfields, into a vibrant urban apple orchard which will offer 500 lucky bods a free Caorunn G&T for a truly beautiful crisp, fresh taste of the Highlands.

I love the idea of an apple orchard in the heart of the city centre. Yes I know it’s temporary, but I may just be tempted to wear my best frock and go skipping through the ‘forest’ as I soak up the fairytale atmosphere (evoked so cleverly by the City of Trees – more on that later).

The Caorunn’s urban apple orchard will be brimming with live trees for one day during the Manchester Food and Drink Festival. The fragrant fruit is one of the five Scottish botanicals, along with dandelion, heather, bog myrtle and rowan berry, that are infused into the handcrafted Scottish gin. Caorunn is uniquely served with thin red apple slices to create an invigorating, clean, sweet, full-bodied and aromatic with a long-lasting dry and crisp finish.

I’m late to the gin party and I’m on a journey for discovering this elixir. I wouldn’t normally associate Scotland with gin (it’s mainly whisky from there, right?), which is why Caorunn took me by surprise. I was at The Gin Festival earlier this year (see my original post here) and loved the versatility of gin. I prefer gin in cocktails, whilst your usual G&T is ubiquitously known as the ‘healthier drink’. I don’t recall seeing a Scottish gin at The Gin Festival, or hearing about it, which is why I felt compelled to research Caorunn Gin.

Launched in November 2009, Caorunn is a handcrafted, small-batch distilled Scottish gin infused with five hand-picked wild, local botanicals. Caorunn Gin is named after one of its botanicals, the fabled rowan berry, which has inspired Celtic medicines and recipes for generations. The famous Caorunn Asterisk on the bottle is a symbol for five, representing all five of wild, Scottish botanicals, whilst echoing the shape of the bottle.

As mentioned before, Caorunn has teamed up with City of Trees to create the refreshing urban orchard. The charity is an innovative movement set to re-invigorate Greater Manchester’s landscape by planting three million trees, one for every man, woman and child that lives in the city region.

Following its time at the Oast House, Spinningfields, the trees are being donate to Snipe Clough, Oldham, where they will be planted to form part of a new community orchard.

Ibolya Bakos-Tonner, brand manager for Caorunn said: “The Oast House, Spinningfields, is the perfect backdrop to home the Caorunn apple orchard. We hope to invigorate the day for locals with a taster of our handcrafted gin during the Manchester Food and Drink Festival.

“The fact that the trees will remain in Greater Manchester following our event means a lot to us to show our support for the growth of green spaces within urban areas.”

Kevin Wigley, City of Trees, comments: “This is a really exciting project for us to work on and is a chance for gin-lovers to get close to nature in an urban environment. We hope this pop-up orchard will show people how trees can really make a space and inspire more urban greening to help transform our cities and towns.”

Remember, the free Caorunn G&T is only available from the Oast House on the 30 September. Put this date and time in your calendar now, as only the first 500 bodds will be able to claim . Make sure you swing by after 13:00, which is when it can be redeemed.

For more information about this exciting Scottish gin, visit www.caorunngin.com.

For more information about the fabulous charity City of Trees, visit www.cityoftrees.org.uk

RAxx