SUMMER is officially underway, and the Isle of Wight Distillery has launched its new Mermaid Pink Gin to celebrate.

Three months after the successful re-launch of Mermaid Gin, the distillery has introduced a pink version, presented in the same, strikingly sculpted, bottle as Mermaid, decorated in shades of pink, including the appropriately named Living Coral, named 2019’s colour of the year.

The bottle is 100 per cent plastic-free, with a wood-topped cork and a unique plant-based tamper-proof seal.

Distilled using strawberries from the micro-climate of the Island’s Arreton Valley, which receives some of the best sunshine levels in the UK, the gin has a gentle pink hue.

To create it, the strawberries are steeped in the distillery’s signature smooth yet complex gin for four days.

Then, half is removed to be distilled and eventually added back to the remaining infusion, lending the gin a refreshing and intensely aromatic, strawberry flavour.

As with the original gin, there remains a fragrant hint of the locally foraged rock samphire, the freshness of lemon zest and pepperiness from grains of paradise.

With no added sugar, the gin is substantially less sweet than many on the market.

The launch follows a period of intense activity for the distillery.

Sales of Mermaid Gin have risen by more than 110 per cent since its new bottle was launched.