Rhona Madigan-Wheatley was met with a surprise in 2016 after selling her restaurant in Melbourne, Australia and returning to the UK to discover the family property business in Glasgow had started up a small craft brewery, Merchant City Brewing Co. The Scottish Gin side of the company came about after a chance meeting at a networking event in 2018, where Rhona met Simon Tardivel, who had several years of experience in brewing and distillation.
Rhona and Simon discussed the growing number of Scottish Gins and new distilleries opening up, especially the distilleries on the Scottish islands. Both had visited the Isle of Bute on and off for holidays, and both thought the island would be a special place to open a distillery. Simon had already spent summers exploring the island and searching for native plants and botanicals, so they had a good idea of what the island could provide for gin botanicals.
Simon set to work foraging for botanicals and developing what would become the Isle of Bute Distillery’s first releases, Gorse Gin and the world’s first Oyster Gin. Gorse Gin uses gorse flowers foraged from the grounds of Mount Stuart, a local country house and estate, with Oyster Gin featuring oyster shells from Loch Fyne, famous for its seafood. Meanwhile, Rhona sourced a traditional 200 litre copper Portuguese alembic still for the gin production named Audrey.
However, Rhona knew that distilling the Isle of Bute gins on the Scottish mainland could only be a temporary solution and that, in the long term, the gins must be made on the island to respect the Isle of Bute name and benefit the island community. Determined to open a distillery on the island, Rhona began scouting potential sites for the Isle of Bute Distillery. By 2020, Rhona had secured a site in the island’s capital, Rothsey and moved to the island. She had undertaken a complete renovation of an empty building that had sat vacant for several years to create the island’s first gin distillery.
Since then, the Isle of Bute Distillery has introduced several new Scottish Gins to its range, created new jobs, and, in 2022, relocated to a bigger shared premises at Bute Yard, just a stone’s throw from where the original distillery was based. Bute Yard is a purpose-built building featuring a bar, kitchen, brewery, and the Isle of Bute Distillery. It provides a shared space for food and drink businesses on the island, creating new employment opportunities for the island and facilitating collaborations.
In 2024, with vacancies available in both the brewery and the distillery, Bute Brew Co. and the Isle of Bute Distillery opted to train three existing female staff members to replace the previously male-held roles in brewing and distilling, now led by Imogen Holland, Julia Grant and Distillery Manager Iona Buick.
The world’s first Oyster gin. Charging the still with oysters, fresh from the Argyll Coast, to add a delicate maritime essence. This, when blended with a mix of citrus botanicals, creates a savoury gin which is a perfect pair to seafood and the ideal base to a martini.
Key Botanical(s): Oyster Shell, Juniper, Cucumber, Coriander
Gin Style: Distilled
Strength: 43% vol
Goes great with: Cracked pepper, cucumber slice, light tonic and ice.
The glorious gorse flower, sourced exclusively from Mount Stuart, gives this gin a floral nose with hints of coconut and vanilla reminiscent of a summer’s day walk along the Argyll Coast.
Key Botanical(s): Gorse, Juniper, Grains of Paradise, Vanilla, Coconut
Gin Style: London Dry Scottish Gin
Strength: 43% ABV
Goes great with: Fresh orange peel, light tonic and ice.
Distilled using wild heather flowers hand-picked on the Isle of Bute, Heather Gin has a vibrant floral nose and to taste a bright sweetness of pink grapefruit. A fine balance of citrus and floral, the pink grapefruit along with other classic gin botanicals creates a sweet, citrus finish.
Key Botanical(s): Juniper, Isle of Bute Purple Heather Flowers, Pink Grapefruit
Gin Style: Distilled
Strength: 43% vol
Goes great with: A slice of pink grapefruit, tonic and ice.
Isle of Bute’s Island Gin takes its inspiration from its home on Isle of Bute. It is distilled in the heart of Rothesay using a traditional copper pot still in the brand’s new island distillery. On the nose, herbaceous, fruity and earthy. To taste, mint, pineapple and rosemary. A long, fresh and aromatic finish.
Key Botanical(s): Juniper, Pineapple, Rosemary, Basil
Gin Style: Distilled
Strength: 43% vol
Goes great with: Light tonic, a slice of orange and ice.
Isle of Bute Oaked Gin is distilled using a variety of traditional gin botanicals including juniper, coriander and citrus. Aged Scottish Whisky barrels were broken down into wood chips and placed in the gin still’s botanical basket in the head of the still. As the gin is distilled the vapours from the gin are pulled up through the head of the still and through the basket drawing out some of the flavours from the wood chips. The result is a Scottish Gin that is still a gin in terms of flavour but also includes subtle hints of vanilla, pine and sandalwood from the oak wood chips.
Key Botanical(s): Juniper, Oris Root, Vanilla, Oak Wood Chips
Gin Style: Distilled
Strength: 43% vol
Goes great with: Neat over ice or with a slice of orange, tonic and ice.
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