Martin Brown, Phil Paton, and Campbell Archibald were each at a turning point in their careers when they began talking about opening a new distillery in Angus, in northeast Scotland. Angus has rich farmland and beautiful landscapes, with hills, valleys, and coastline. The friends, all enthusiasts of quality spirits, wanted their distillery to produce Scottish gins and other spirits that honoured Scotland’s rich distilling tradition. At the same time, they hoped to bring in the creativity, experimentation, and a hint of chaos suggested by the idea of ‘alchemy.’

When a potential distillery site became available in 2021 at Woodhill, on the outskirts of the coastal town of Carnoustie in Angus, the friends quickly pooled their resources and secured the site. A former caravan sales lot, Martin, Phil, and Campbell began the task of clearing the remnants of the site’s former tenants and upgrading the facilities, including installing a purpose-built bio-boiler that uses locally produced wood chips and heat sync tanks to reduce water use, especially as the distillation process uses a lot of energy, and a lot of water.

Over the course of the next 18 months, the site was completely transformed from a bland and uninviting plot of land with a few bland industrial units into a vibrant space, that seamlessly blends the notion of small illicit moonshine distilleries from the 1920s in the US with a mix of 1950s rock, steam punk, up-cycled materials including copper and wood, to create a distillery that has some modern twists but is truly original and truly unique, inside and out.

The distillery was fitted with two engineered stills to ensure that two different spirits could be produced at the same time, plus allow recipe development on the smallest of the two stills. As is a long-held tradition in the world of distilleries, although not everyone names their still, the friends decided to honour Angus and settled on the names “Ann” and “Gus”, a play on the name Angus. All three co-founders were involved in the recipe development for what would become their signature Prickly Gin, Prickly Gin Navy Strength, and Prickled Pink Gin. They also created a range of recipes that would eventually form the basis for their Moonshine spirit range.

More than just a distillery crafting spirits with personality, the friends also wanted to share the Angus Alchemy way with others. Martin, Phil, and Campbell set to work developing ideas for distillery visitor experiences that would showcase the Angus Alchemy spirits range, highlight the Angus area, including its food offerings, and provide a space for visitors to taste, enjoy, and learn more about the distillation methods of Angus Alchemy.

The distillery officially opened its doors in December 2022 with the launch of its signature London Dry Scottish Gin and its Navy Strength Scottish Gin expression, along with several visitor experiences. If Angus Alchemy were a person it would be a mix of Johnny Rotten, Johnny Cash, and James Dean, all wearing kilts. Rebellious, fun, cool, Scottish, blending the modern and vintage, rebels with a cause – to produce original Scottish spirits with character.