The team at Linlithgow Distillery, Ross and Alyson Jamieson, had one simple aim with their distillery – make a quality Gin using the best sourced and locally foraged botanicals from the Royal Burgh of Linlithgow to make a truly special local Gin. As a family business and understanding the importance to the area of having it’s own special gin, Linlithgow Distillery recruited over 100 people from the local area to help develop their signature Scottish Gin.
With premises secured in 2017, the couple set to work renovating their new distillery space before taking delivery of their new gin still, affectionately named ‘Gleann Iucha’ which is Scots Gaelic for Linlithgow. The couple have great plans for the distillery and their product range and hope it will have a positive impact on attracting visitors to the town and potentially provide a future source of employment.
Linlithgow Distillery use a mix of local handpicked botanicals from around the loch, canal and meadows of Linlithgow. In particular, the meadowsweet that grows in abundance along the Union canal, combined with traditional botanicals including juniper, coriander and cassia amongst others, gives their London Dry style of gin a truly unique flavour with spicy and citrus notes. The custom bottle design was launched in July 2021 and captures elements of its hometown's most iconic architecture in the final design including Linlithgow Palace, St Michael's Spire, St Magdalene's Distillery and The Maltings.
Key Botanical(s): Meadowsweet, Coriander, Cassia
Gin Style: London Dry
Strength: 43% vol
Goes great with: A slice of orange, tonic and ice.
Despite being launched in October 2021, this Navy Strength recipe was actually developed in 2019 but the team wanted to wait until the right time to release it. With so many obstacles to overcome throughout 2020 and 2021, and the recent launch of their high end custom bottle, the time was finally perfect to release this high strength edition. The distillery team have used some “secret” LinGin botanicals but revealed the addition of grapefruit and lavender in this Navy Strength really takes it to a new level.
Key Botanical(s): Juniper, Meadowsweet, Orange Peel
Gin Style: Navy Strength
Strength: 47% vol
Goes great with: A wedge of grapefruit, tonic and ice.
The team at Linlithgow Distillery have actually produced two limited editions in a series of cask aged Scottish Gins. The most recent produced only 276 bottles, which involved resting their signature LinGin in a carefully selected Glen Moray cask for 238 days resulting in in deeply flavoursome gin with notes of whisky, vanilla and chocolate.
Key Botanical(s): Juniper, Meadowsweet, Orange Peel
Gin Style: Cask Aged
Strength: 43% vol
Goes great with: A twist of orange peel, tonic and ice.
This fruit inspired berry gin features classic gin botanicals paired with the distillery’s signature meadowsweet and orange. Fresh blackcurrants and raspberries are specially sourced from Craigie's Fruit Farm. The result is a gin that has a classic gin base of juniper, citrus and floral layered with fresh red berries to create a refreshing, light and flavoursome unsweetened pink gin.
Key Botanical(s): Meadowsweet, Blackcurrants, Raspberries
Gin Style: Flavoured
Strength: 43% vol
Goes great with: A few raspberries, tonic or lemonade and ice.
Following a limited run of the Christmas themed Mulled Gin in 2020, the team have made more available and in their custom bottle for 2021. This recipe features lots of festive flavours with the addition of Lemon Peel, Ginger, All Spice and Clove to provide warming mulled notes to nose and taste.
Key Botanical(s): Lemon Peel, Ginger, All Spice, Clove
Gin Style: Distilled
Strength: 42% vol
Goes great with: A twist of orange, tonic and ice.
Inspired by the ladies-in-waiting to Mary Queen of Scots, who was born at Linlithgow Palace. The first in the series features Mary Fleming known as the ‘lively one’ who was known for her flair and character as an entertainer to the Court through music and dance. Combining Kaffir lime, Yuzu, Star Anise along with some traditional gin botanicals, this gin has a true zesty flavour profile and is described as ‘an old fashioned sherbet fountain from your childhood’. The flavour profile and mouthfeel have been created through the distillation process and botanicals with no additives or additional flavourings.
Key Botanical(s): Kaffir Lime, Yuzu, Star Anise, Galangal
Gin Style: Flavoured, Old Tom
Strength: 46% vol
Goes great with: A slice of lemon, tonic and ice.
Inspired by the ladies-in-waiting to Mary Queen of Scots, who was born at Linlithgow Palace. The second in the series features Mary Livingstone known as the ‘bonny one’ who was known as a highly skilled horsewomen and hunter with an in-depth knowledge of the local landscape including plants. Distilled with locally foraged Scottish brambles and raspberry leaves to create a fresh, fruit flavour profile that works well with tonic or Prosecco.
Key Botanical(s): Juniper, Scottish Brambles, Raspberry Leaves
Gin Style: Flavoured
Strength: 40% vol
Goes great with: Raspberries, elderflower tonic and ice.
Inspired by the ladies-in-waiting to Mary Queen of Scots, who was born at Linlithgow Palace. The third in the series features Mary Seton known as the ‘devoted one’, who remained committed to Mary through most of her incarceration. Mary Seton helped Mary Queen of Scots plan a daring escape from Loch Leven Castle. Distilled with eucalyptus leaves, peppermint and lemon verbena to create a fresh and cool flavour profile. The gin is then infused with butterfly pea flowers that turns the gin a delicate shade of pink when tonic is added.
Key Botanical(s): Eucalyptus Leaves, Peppermint, Lemon Verbena
Gin Style: Distilled
Strength: 40% vol
Goes great with: A wedge of lime, tonic and ice.
Inspired by the ladies-in-waiting to Mary Queen of Scots, who was born at Linlithgow Palace. The fourth and final gin in the series features Mary Beaton known as the ‘canny one’, who was known for being sweet and delicate in appearance but with a sharp intellect that caught many by surprise. Distilled with allspice, rose petals and apricots to create a rich, warm gin with a mild spicy bite.
Key Botanical(s): Allspice, Nutmeg, Apricots, Rose Petals
Gin Style: Distilled
Strength: 40% vol
Goes great with: A wedge of lime, ice and ginger beer.
Part of the LinGin Colours range, which has been carefully crafted to be enjoyed individually or can be blended with other gins in the range to create any number of potential combinations to suit individual taste. LinGin Raspberry is created using a gin base that features 8 botanicals in the distillation including meadowsweet and orange peel. Post distillation, the gin is then infused with raspberry essence to create a gin that is carefully balanced with summer berry notes.
Key Botanical(s): Meadowsweet, Orange Peel
Gin Style: Flavoured
Strength: 40% vol
Goes great with: Fresh raspberries, tonic and ice.
Part of the LinGin Colours range, which has been carefully crafted to be enjoyed individually or can be blended with other gins in the range to create any number of potential combinations to suit individual taste. LinGin Coconut is created using a gin base that features 8 botanicals in the distillation including meadowsweet and orange peel. Post distillation, the gin is then infused with coconut essence to create a gin that is carefully balanced with tropical notes.
Key Botanical(s): Meadowsweet, Orange Peel
Gin Style: Flavoured
Strength: 40% vol
Goes great with: A slice of lime or pineapple, tonic and ice.
Part of the LinGin Colours range, which has been carefully crafted to be enjoyed individually or can be blended with other gins in the range to create any number of potential combinations to suit individual taste. LinGin Lime is created using a gin base that features 8 botanicals in the distillation including meadowsweet and orange peel. Post distillation, the gin is then infused with lime essence to create a gin that is carefully balanced with zesty notes.
Key Botanical(s): Meadowsweet, Orange Peel
Gin Style: Flavoured
Strength: 40% vol
Goes great with: A twist of lime, tonic and ice.
Part of the LinGin Colours range, which has been carefully crafted to be enjoyed individually or can be blended with other gins in the range to create any number of potential combinations to suit individual taste. LinGin Yuzu is created using a gin base that features 8 botanicals in the distillation including meadowsweet and orange peel. Post distillation, the gin is then infused with yuzu essence to create a gin that is carefully balanced with notes of tangerine and grapefruit.
Key Botanical(s): Meadowsweet, Orange Peel
Gin Style: Flavoured
Strength: 40% vol
Goes great with: A twist of lime, tonic and ice.
The Linlithgow Distillery is located in the historic Scottish town of Linlithgow in West Lothian. The distillery is home to two stills, one for distillation of the Linlithgow Distillery range of Scottish Gins and one used for stripping alcohol. The distillery is very much a working distillery with all aspects of production, including distilling, bottling and labelling taking place on-site. Alongside the distillery, there’s also a shop and tasting room featuring a mural that includes the co-founders, local landmarks like Linlithgow Palace and an insight into some of their personal interests like the Starship Enterprise from Star Trek!
Tour: Yes
Shop: Yes
Booking: Email to enquire about a distillery tour here
You can learn more about the maker by clicking the links below.
