

In 2016 brothers Simon and Philip Thompson decided to turn their passion for Scottish Whisky and Gin into a new business – Dornoch Distillery Company. The brothers began renovating a 19th-century Victorian fire station, part of the Dornoch Castle Hotel located in the Scottish Highlands, with the aim of creating a craft distillery for producing whisky and gin.
Partly self-funded and partly through crowdfunding, this venture was extremely successful and reached its goal within weeks. The crowdfunding gained interest from all over the world, with many investors from mainland Europe, East Asia and the USA. Dornoch Distillery Company produced it’s first set of experimental gins in December 2016 as a thank you to those who helped Dornoch Distillery become a reality.
Distilled from a blend of 90% organic grain spirit and 10% organic floor-malted heritage barley spirit, which is slowly fermented and twice distilled on direct gas-fired copper pot stills. Grain spirit is combined with a proprietary botanical blend and slowly redistilled. The new make spirit is then combined with the base gin and slowly diluted to 45.7% ABV. The grain spirit gives a fantastic canvas for this botanical blend, while the new make spirit provides body, creamy texture and a light fruity character.
Key Botanical(s): Meadowsweet, Elderflower, Black Peppercorn
Gin Style: London Dry
Strength: 45.7% vol
Goes great with: A slice of lemon, a scattering of black peppercorn, tonic and ice.
Situated on the site of the family’s hotel, the Dornoch Castle Hotel, the Dornoch Distillery is housed in a former fire station in the seaside village of Dornoch. The distillery produces a range of experimental and limited edition whiskies along with the Thompson Brothers Organic Highland Gin, the signature gin from the distillery that’s distilled using their own base spirit. The Dornoch Caste Hotel houses one of the best Whisky collections in Scotland.
Tour: No
Bar: Yes
Booking: Not open to the public
You can learn more about the maker by clicking the links below.