The spirits family tree has numerous branches, and many of those feature liquors made from, well, trees and branches. From fruit brandies to gin’s juniper to spirits made from saps, pine cones, and more, there are plenty of ways for craft distillers to harness the sugars, aromas, and flavors that (literally) grow on trees.
But what about a spirit built entirely—and exclusively—from different elements of one tree? A distillery in Kenya is proving that it’s not only possible but also that the results could be influential in the gin category.
Based in Nairobi, Australian expats Guy Brennan and Charles Murito and Kenyan chef Alan Murungi founded Procera Gin in 2018. Brennan says that they were enjoying gin and tonics one afternoon when they began to look more closely at the list of botanicals on a bottle of Bombay Sapphire Gin. He says they marveled at how many were grown in Africa—then sent to England to be distilled and eventually sold back to Africa (and points around the world) as gin. To Brennan, that raised a question: “Why aren’t we just making gin here, with African botanicals?”
