Wildjac

Wildjac operates out of Bewdley, a market town on the edge of the Wyre Forest in Worcestershire, and the location does a lot of the talking. The distillery sits above six and a half thousand acres of ancient British woodland, and the forest itself shapes everything they make. Botanicals are foraged locally, the still is named Prudence after a 19th-century cargo boat that once carried spices and botanicals to Bewdley's port, and the sustainability credentials run deep enough to have earned them membership of 1% For The Planet.

Their alcohol-free botanical spirit is made using the same foraged ingredients as their alcoholic range: Douglas fir from the forest, lemon balm from the garden, juniper. The approach is the same too. Rather than producing a separate, lower-effort AF line, Wildjac uses traditional distilling techniques on their copper still, applying the same craftsmanship whether or not the end product contains alcohol. The result is a spirit that genuinely reflects the landscape it comes from, with a prominent juniper character that sits comfortably in a G&T.

The packaging is worth mentioning. Wildjac uses paper-based Frugal Bottles rather than glass. They're a fifth of the weight of glass and carry a substantially lower carbon footprint. It's a practical environmental decision as much as a branding one, and it makes the bottles lightweight enough to post.

Distribution is multi-channel. You can buy direct from wildjac.co.uk or through specialist retailers. The AF range is modest in scope, reflecting a craft producer that makes things carefully rather than broadly. If you're after a forest-flavoured gin alternative with real provenance behind it, Wildjac is one of the more interesting options in the category.

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