A gin with a taste of Africa
That was the idea dreamed up by the Belgians Alexis Lebedoff and Charlotte Martens, after a trip through the Virunga Park in Central Africa. Together with Alexis's sister Sophie and Batiste Ryckaert, they worked out their plan to start up “Wilderness Spirits”.
Through their new business they are producing a gin with African sources of inspiration, and it is also contributing towards conservation of the region’s endangered mountain gorillas.
Roughly 20% of the income from Virunga Gin is going to the world-famous Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund which has been protecting mountain gorillas in the area for forty years.
"We wanted to be associated with an organization that has been devoting itself to the mountain gorilla for decades".
The large Virunga National Park, which extends across Congo, Uganda and Rwanda, is home to approximately 800 mountain gorillas. Their existence is under threat from civil wars, poaching and deforestation in the search for oil. Their numbers are once again growing thanks to the help of projects such as the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund.
Virunga Gin derives its unique flavour from the mist-shrouded forests that overlook the volcanoes of Central Africa. The unique combination of rare African plants and the expertise of Britain’s most venerable distilleries lend a robust, spiced fragrance to the gin with a smooth and fruity aftertaste.