Experience Scottish Gin

Our Experience Scottish Gin feature series discovers Scotland’s gin makers who offer a Scottish Gin experience. As the popularity of Scottish Gin continues to grow and numbers of visitors to Scotland grows year on year, there’s never been a better time to experience Scottish Gin for yourself. From distillery tours and gin and food pairing experiences to gin making and distillation schools, the number of experiences is diverse guaranteeing there’s a Scottish Gin experience out there for you to discover and enjoy.

Established in 2017 by husband and wife Gordon and Vanessa Quinn, Badachro Distillery produces a range of small batch, hand crafted Scottish Gins that celebrate the local area through the use of some locally sourced botanicals. Distilled and bottled to capture the true spirit of the area.

Where is your Scottish Gin experience based?

In the small fishing village of Badachro, near Gairloch in Wester Ross. To get to the village you drive on a single track road for about 3 miles. No matter what direction you’re coming from, North or South, the roads leading to Badachro provide some of the most breathtaking scenery in Scotland.

What does your Scottish Gin experience consist of? 

A G&T to start with over chat about the history of gin, the history of the area and why we’re in Badachro and making gin. We then visit the distillery to meet the stills, learn how our gin is made as well as our other products. We then do a comparative tasting of a few development gins and trends. Visitors also get a discount on products at the end.

How long does your average Scottish Gin experience last? 

Our tour and tastings last approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes. We didn’t want to rush our gin experience as we feel it’s important that our guests on the tour get the full picture of what our gins are about but also provide adequate time for any questions. It’s the perfect amount of time to speak about our gins, our distillery, the local area and chat with visitors and still leave time for gin samples!

What are some of the best bits of your Scottish Gin experience? 

Our experience provides a real insight into a genuine craft distillery and life running a family business. Being able to explain our process and show where our gin is made, explain the time and care that goes into making our products, speak about our botanicals and showing visitors literally a few yards away where we pick some of the botanicals. Where we can, we also like to provide some sneak peaks at gins in development plus there’s plenty of distilling anecdotes to be shared. 

Visitors are also welcomed into our comfortable tasting room where we can sit and chat through our gins in more detail, provide perfect serves and gauge feedback from visitors. We really believe this offers a memorable, fun and rewarding experience for our visitors. We’re tried to create a personal experience for our visitors, the fact we’ve got visitors from all over the world booking in advance to come and see us lets us know we’re doing something right.

How many people can take part in your Scottish Gin experience? 

We’ve limited it to 7 people at a time partly due to the size of the distillery but also we don’t want the experience to feel crammed. We could make groups bigger but we’re all about the quality of the experience for the visitors.

What’s the feedback from visitors? 

Feedback has all been very positive. Most visitors love the fact that when they visit they’re getting to see first-hand for themselves a real Scottish craft distillery. The fact the tour is led by the people who actually make the gins means that visitors have told us it’s refreshing to speak with and meet the actual people behind the gins. For us, this is where we work on a daily basis but for our visitors they find it fascinating.

How can visitors make a booking? 

It’s very simple, either book in advance through our website here or call us on +44 (0)1445 741 282.

Is there anything else you’d like to add about your Scottish Gin experience?

We regularly add extra dates due to demand and it’s very much a two way experience.

Do think Scottish Gin experiences are an important part of the story of Scottish Gin?

Critical – they are a great way of spreading the word and the individual stories of craft distilleries and their products. We think being able to give our visitors a genuine, fun and memorable experience adds something special to any holidaymaker and helps raise the profile and visitors’ impressions of the area.

What are some of the other attractions in your local area that you would recommend visitors check out?

Red Point Beach is just a short drive along from Badachro. Continue following the single track road past Badachro for a few miles. The road ends and you’ll find golden sands, aqua blue waters and stunning views on a clear day over to the Isle of Skye, Isle of Harris and some of the other Outer Hebridean islands.

Just north of Poolewe you’ll find the Inverewe Garden. The garden and estate is home to a vast range of plants and botanicals and is currently part of the National Trust for Scotland. Home to plant and tree species from around the world, including some very rare plants, in the summer months the gardens are alive with colour, perfume and insects. The gardens are also home to a variety of native animals including red squirrels, red deer, otters, seals and golden eagles.

Badachro Inn has been a focal point for the community for a number of years. It’s the only pub and restaurant in the village providing a fantastic selection of local dishes including locally caught seafood. You’ll get a warm welcome and some brilliant views out over the local landscape from the decking area outside.

Other highlights in the area include the Gairloch Museum, boat hires and canoeing, plenty of hillwalking and amazing scenery.

You can learn more about Badachro Distillery here.

You can book a Badachro Distillery Experience here.