The Botanist Mixes Things Up In San Francisco

This past Wednesday, San Fran's finest came out in droves at the behest of The Botanist, the cool kid's spirit of choice, for a pop-up dinner party to rival even the city's best restaurants. A dry style gin created on the beyond idyllic Scottish island of Islay, as its name would suggest, The Botanist's unique flavor comes from 22 hand-foraged botanicals. 

An evening of locally-inspired cocktail creations paired brilliantly with deliciously unique  culinary dishes, it was quite the invite to score. When guests weren't being greeted with glasses of Elder’s Tonic - an original recipe that mixes local San Francisco pomegranates with The Botanist Gin, tonic water and grenadine - they were taking business into their own hands over at the Botanist Bitters Bar or shaking up cocktails of their own creation with the guidance of Botanist Brand Ambassador Dominic Ailing. And let's just say, you wouldn't believe what an insane cocktail ingredient local San Francisco figs make!

Set to the tunes of Gaucho, a bay area jazz band, the night hit a most tasty head with the serving of Melissa King's three course dinner. The local star and Top Chef finalist pulled out all the stops, following The Botanist's love of all things wild and foraged. And, but of course, each plate had its own custom cocktail to go alongside it. 

Joining in the fun was Erica Chan of Honestly Yum & Honestly WTF, Sarah Park of Cultural Chromatics, My Nyguen of My Healthy Dish, Anita Chu of Dessert First, Lauren Mizrahi of Live Happy Inspired, Chanda Stacker of Pancake STACKER, Hayley Leibson of Lady in Tech, Jen Szeto of Window of Imagination, and Nicole Wong of Tokyo_to.

Not lucky enough to have made it on the guest list? Click through for an inside look at the night's festivities!