Shoogle Spirits was established by husband and wife Chris and Leigh Payne after losing the family patriarch in 2018, Chris’s dad Jimmy. While sorting out the late Jimmy’s belongings, Chris discovered an old dusty bottle of Charrington’s Toby Audit Ale, which Jimmy had kept in a cupboard with precious family photos and possessions. It got Chris and Leigh thinking about what made this bottle special and why had it been kept unopened for almost 60 years.
After digging around, Chris discovered his great grandfather had worked at Glasgow brewery J & R Tennent where the ale had been made. Along with the family’s shared love of gin and spirits and the memento left behind by Jimmy, Chris decided it would be a fitting legacy to his dad if they created a family distillery and started a new chapter in the family’s history. And so Shoogle Spirits was born.
Shoogle Gin presents itself as a sweet citrus forward gin with a pepper spice backdrop. The juniper and kumquat appear on the nose at first, luring you in with a hint of tangerine before giving way to traces of cinnamon, almond and spicy pink peppercorn. On the palate, the initial citrus sweetness melts into the piney juniper before the warming flavours of cassia, tonka bean and cardamom level things out a little, in preparation for the more earthy notes of angelica root and the final pepper spice hit from the pink peppercorn.
Key Botanical(s): Kumquat, Pink Peppercorn, Baobab Fruit, Tonka Bean
Gin Style: London Dry
Strength: 42% vol
Goes great with: A slice of orange, tonic and ice.
Shoogle Junniperous Navy Strength Gin features the 11 botanicals used in the signature Shoogle Gin with a new recipe that was developed to help amplify the juniper and citrus notes. Botanicals include juniper, orange, cardamom coriander seed, angelica root, kumquat, baobab, tonka bean and pink peppercorn. Juniper and fresh citrus is at the fore on the palate with notes of bright citrus from the orange and kumquat, balanced with warming spice from pink peppercorns and cassia.
Key Botanical(s): Juniper, Kumquat, Pink Peppercorn
Gin Style: Navy Strength
Strength: 57% vol
Goes great with: A slice of orange, tonic and ice.
Shoogle Spirits Distillery opened its doors in the second half of 2021. The distillery is based in the tastefully refurbished former Morris Furniture factory in the west-end of Glasgow where all Shoogle Spirits are distilled and bottled. Shoogle Spirits, which now include gin and vodka, as well as some third party products, are all distilled in ‘Birnie’, a 100 litre pot still. The distillery is also used for product research and development and provides a space for the team to experiment, taste and develop new releases and collaborations.
Tour: Yes
Shop: Yes
You can learn more about the maker by clicking the links below.
