Glendalough Distillery Shares Its Summer Foraging Secrets Ahead of Taste of Dublin

From fragrant elderflower and sweet pineapple weed to tart wild raspberries, June is one of the most abundant months for foraging in Ireland. As botanicals across the Wicklow Mountains burst into bloom, Glendalough Distillery is sharing its top tips for discovering some of the season’s most distinctive wild flavours. 

These are not just ingredients found on a woodland walk. They are the very same botanicals currently being harvested and distilled for Glendalough Distillery’s award winning Wild Botanical and Wild Rose Gins. Handpicked and distilled within hours, they capture the essence of Wicklow in every bottle. 

As the summer solstice approaches, Glendalough Distillery has been as busy as the bees. June is the month where the distillery captures the lovely floral notes of Summer in Wicklow - and right now, elderflower is at its peak. The delicate blooms are carefully distilled within just a few hours of picking, preserving their full floral character in every drop. It's not just elderflowers. At this time of year, Glendalough Distillery is also harvesting wild roses and cultivated rose petals, wild fennel for its bright aniseed flavour, chamomile with its notes of apple and hay, yarrow with its slightly bitter herbal character, and honeysuckle flowers with their heady perfume. As the botanicals are loaded into the still each evening, the scent of all those summer flavours fills the air.

This is what makes Glendalough Distillery's Wild Botanical and Wild Rose Gins unlike any other. Rather than fixed flavour profiles, the spirits are built around what the Wicklow Mountains are offering at that exact moment - meaning every bottle is a direct expression of place, season and time. 

Inspired to forage yourself? Below are Geraldine Kavanagh’s, Glendalough Distillery's full-time Head Forager, top tips for June. (Always make sure you have correctly identified any wild foods, only consume if you are 100% sure).

• Elderflower is easy to spot, with its clusters of creamy white flowers best harvested on a dry, sunny day. Use straight away as the flowers don’t keep - they’re wonderful in cordials, syrups and desserts, and delicious paired with fresh rose petals. Note: only the flowers are edible; avoid the stems and leaves. 

• Pineapple weed is a cool little plant - its flowers taste just like pineapple! It resembles chamomile but without the white petals. Try it in a calming bedtime tea, or use it to make a cocktail syrup wherever a tropical note would suit.

• Wild raspberries can surprise you in June if you;re walking along woodland paths or forest lanes where some sunlight breaks through. Slightly more tart and complex than cultivated varieties, they’re wonderful in desserts or muddled into a summer cocktail.

Taste of Dublin

Visitors can experience these seasonal botanicals first-hand at Taste of Dublin, where Glendalough Distillery will be the official gin sponsor from 11th - 14th June. 

The gin poured at the Glendalough Distillery bar is made with the very same fresh, seasonally foraged botanicals that are being harvested and distilled right now - bringing the Wicklow Mountains, quite literally, to Merrion Square.

Festival goers can enjoy an intimate gin cocktail masterclass, led by the Glendalough Distillery team, where guests will first enjoy a guided tasting of Wild Botanical and Wild Rose Gin before an expert mixologist demonstrates the perfect serve - which guests then get to enjoy themselves. Masterclasses run Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, with sessions priced from €10.

On Friday 12th June, renowned drinks writer and author Oisín Davis takes the reins for a special day of masterclasses, bringing his upcoming Irish whiskey cookbook collaboration with Glendalough Distillery to life. Guests will enjoy Oisín craft the perfect Glendalough Distillery cocktail, sample dishes straight from the book, and enjoy a cocktail of their own to finish.

For the first time at Taste of Dublin, visitors will also be able to purchase Glendalough Distillery products directly on-site. Masterclass tickets will also be available to purchase at the festival on the day on a first come first served basis. 

Slán go fóill.