Gin gives a tonic to the ecosystem

A brewery is distilling a gin that will help in the fight against an invasive non-native plant which is damaging our riverbanks.

Puddingstone Distillery’s spirit incorporates the flowers of the Himalayan balsam plant, which is smothering riverbanks and damaging delicate ecosystems.

The balsam adds a dusky, summer pink colour as well as subtle floral notes to the flavour of the gin. Its removal from Hertfordshire’s rare chalk rivers will help protect habitats and native flora.

It was introduced in Britain in the 19th century, but with its exploding seed pods, soon colonised riverbanks and ditches, starving wildflowers and wildlife of sunlight and nutrients.

The gin will first be sold at the Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust’s Festival of Wildlife on July 29 and 30, and £2 from each bottle sold will go to charity. Samantha Herbert