Aldi's Color-Changing Gin Is Magical, Drinkable, And Unavailable Stateside

Earlier this year, we wrote about two Aldi spirits—Highland Black Scotch Whisky and Glen Marnoch Islay Single Malt—that swiped awards at an international spirits competition. In that piece, we also bemoaned the fact that we, humble U.S.-based writers that we are, cannot enjoy said spirits, because Aldi doesn't sell them in the States. Well it seems that the fine people at Aldi have decided to add insult to injury, or maybe to rub juniper in the wound, by releasing a limited edition color-changing gin that, bollocks, isn't available here.

As a lover of good gin, science, and magical pretty things, I am particularly bereft by this loss, because Forest Fruits Colour Changing Gin looks and sounds good, science-y, and magical. The Independent reports that the spirit, produced by Scottish distillery McQueen Gin, appears blue when poured before turning pink when a mixer or garnish is added.

The video below does not feature that color-changing gin, but it is a color-changing gin, and will give you an idea of what goes on when you add tonic. There's also a brief video embedded at the top of the Independent story, if you want to see the Aldi stuff in action.

Cool, right? The science behind it involves using the blue petals of the Asian butterfly flower in the distilling process, which, according to the Independent, "change colour from pale sapphire to pink when the PH levels of the petals are altered." Dale McQueen, a co-founder of McQueen Gin, suggests that drinkers "add a squeeze of lime first and see what shade of pink the gin goes, then add the tonic and it will change again."

It also reportedly tastes pretty darn good too, thanks to the "forest fruits" used in the distilling process. I've got a cherished bottle of Few's Bloodshot Insurgint Gin on my bar cart, a gin made with blood orange and guajillo peppers, so this sounds right up my street. But I do not live in Scotland, and thus must live with its lack. Alas, the world.

Forest Fruits Colour Changing Gin is a limited release, and is currently available in all 81 Scottish Aldi stores, where you can pick up a bottle for £19.99. If you do, let us live vicariously through you in the comments.