Victoria cooperation in the new showroom

A unique gin creation from Hanover is being crafted at the Berggarten. It pays equal tribute to the tropical water lily Victoria amazonica, the Berggarten as the historic cradle of horticulture and its connection to the Hanoverian royal family. After all, the kings of Hanover were also kings of Great Britain for 123 years.

Joerma Biernath of Hannover Gin, a landscape designer by trade, created the gin with his team, inspired by the Victoriahaus in the Berggarten, which is currently under construction. He won over everyone involved with his idea: the House of Hannover, the Herrenhausen Gardens, and SEP Architects. And so, on July 25, 2024, Heinrich Prince of Hanover, Joerma Biernath, Prof. Dr. Anke Seegert, Nandino Baillot (both from the Herrenhausen Gardens), and Nicole Alpers (SEP Architects) joined forces to roll the heavy gin barrel to the cistern of the future show house in the Berggarten. There, the gin will age until the barrel is retrieved in about a year and a half at the house’s opening, when the gin will be bottled. The bottles will be numbered and offered as a limited-edition special release. Half of the proceeds will go toward supporting the Berggarten’s gardener training program.

Not only does the gin age in the Berggarten, but it also contains plants from the Berggarten: Ingredients such as citrus, cinnamon, cocoa, and verbena—known as botanicals—were gathered in the Berggarten and added according to a secret recipe before the gin was transferred to a 225-liter oak barrel.

The idea

For Joerma Biernath, the project is about celebrating the gardening profession as creative and forward-looking. He is fascinated by the fact that the tropical water lily will have its own greenhouse and can then be admired by people from all over the world. Without the next generation of gardeners, he believes, ancient knowledge of nature would wither away. Director Prof. Dr. Anke Seegert agrees. She emphasizes that gardening is not just about beautiful plants. Gardening knowledge also encompasses many useful, healing, nutritious, and aromatic aspects of plants. For the architects of the new exhibition hall, it is important that the building they have designed will showcase the water lily in a way that makes it well worth seeing. At the same time, it fits wonderfully into the historically grown Berggarten, says project manager Nicole Alpers.

The tropical water lily Victoria amazonica

More than 170 years ago, the Berggarten was the first place in Germany to feature the unique giant water lily Victoria amazonica - its botanical name derives from Queen Victoria back—in full bloom. This was primarily due to the skill of the gardeners and the foresight of the royal family of Hanover. The seeds of the water lily, native to the Amazon, came from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, near London. A new display house for the Victoria water lily is currently under construction at the Berggarten, so that this exotic plant can return here in about a year and a half.

© Herrenhausen Gardens

© Hanover Gin

Hanover Gin

Hannover Gin's Website

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