Little Brown Dog Spirits was officially established in 2018 by vet and whisky connoisseur Andrew Smith and farmer Chris Reid in rural Aberdeenshire. Andrew had used the name Little Brown Dog to label original whisky bottling samples he shared with friends and the name came from Andrew’s pet dog who travels with him to tasting events and distillery visits.
Little Brown Dog Spirits is a creative hub for distilling spirits with its own stills for experimental, small batch distillations along with a larger still for bigger spirit runs. The Little Brown Dog Spirits team is focused on creating spirits with true provenance through the use of locally foraged botanicals. Enjoying the independence of creating unique and experimental spirits, including gin, the team plan on releasing a number of one-off limited edition spirits.
Originally released as LBD Gin before the packaging was amended and the recipe was slightly tweaked, Aberdeenshire Foraged Gin is the signature Scottish Gin from Little Brown Dog Spirits. The dry botanicals are left for twelve hours to steep in the base alcohol overnight before the fresh botanicals are added the next day. Using the custom copper botanical baskets, which are hung in the neck of the still, the vapours slowly rise and pass through the fresh botanicals, carefully extracting the oils and flavour compounds along with the flavours released from the steeped botanicals. The botanicals combine locally foraged and locally grown botanicals, along with some imported botanicals. They include juniper, coriander, wood sorrel, rhubarb, birch sap and parsnip. The result is a gin packed with juniper, waves of citrus, floral and woodland notes with a hint of petrichor.
Key Botanical(s): Juniper, Wood Sorrel, Parsnip
Gin Style: London Dry
Strength: 43% vol
Goes great with: A slice of apple, tonic and ice.
Bottled at 57.2% ABV, LBD Latitude Strength Gin is distilled with a variety of botanicals, including some which are locally foraged and grown, wood sorrel, beech leaf, parsnip and birch sap. Big sweet and sour lemon on the nose and fresh forest floor. On the palate grapefruit and sherbet dip dab with a wave of herbal tea. The finish has notes of pepper, rocket salad and lemon dressing. Thanks to the distillation process the gin manages to capture both bold and delicate flavours in the same sip, with a well balanced flavour profile that excites and entices. The ABV references the 57.2 latitude line that the distillery sits on.
Key Botanical(s): Wood Sorrel, Beech Leaf, Parsnip, Birch Sap
Gin Style: Navy Strength
Strength: 57.2% vol
Goes great with: A slice of apple, tonic and ice.
Signature LBD Aberdeenshire Foraged Gin has been aged for 7 months in a sweet vermouth cask to create a unique cask aged Scottish Gin, LBD Project Negroni Definitivo Gin. The original elements of the gin have been given additional layers of complexity flavour with notes of zesty orange and gentle spices to create a cask aged Scottish Gin that can be enjoyed neat over ice or makes a fantastic flavour base for a classic Negroni cocktail.
Key Botanical(s): Birch Sap, Chevril Root, Bee Pollen
Gin Style: Cask Aged
Strength: 46% vol
Goes great with: A twist of orange peel, neat over ice or in a Negroni.
The 2022 edition from the distillery's annual experimental spirit series is none other than LBD Project Stovies Gin, aptly promoted as the Aberdeenshire-iest gin ever! The team worked with local business, Marshall's Farm Shop & Kitchen, to source the carrots, neeps and beetroot. Of course, Stovies wouldn't be complete without a side of beetroot and an oatcake or two, so some black pepper and oats were also to the distillation, with the oats grown on the farm next to the distillery. The oats provide a rich and creamy mouthfeel while the root vegetables give bright herbaceous notes and the roasted juniper ensures that juniper backbone throughout, with the black pepper delivering that warming spice finish.
Key Botanical(s): Carrots, Neeps, Beetroot, Oats, Black Pepper
Gin Style: London Dry
Strength: 45.5% vol
Goes great with: A twist of orange, tonic and ice.
To create LBD Project Quercus Acer Maple Gin LBD Aberdeenshire Foraged Gin that has been carefully aged for 6 months in a Maple Syrup cask. Birch sap in the distillate and maple sap in the cask. Part of the distillery's Experimental Spirit Series, this is cask strength, single cask, non chill filtered, natural colour, no added nothing, single cask gin. Could be described as being like an old tom style gin but it’s still a dry distilled gin with no added sugar or syrup. There are 400 bottles from the cask and we're lucky enough to have a few. Like all Little Brown Dog Experimental Spirit Series, this is a one-off project, no to be repeated.
Key Botanical(s): Wood Sorrel, Parsnip, Beech Leaves
Gin Style: Cask Aged
Strength: 50.2% vol
Goes great with: A twist of orange, bitter lemon and ice.
The flavour profile of this sold out limited edition small batch gin is both complex and carefully crafted after a number of distillation runs were used to find the right balance. The gin featurees a variety of botanicals, many locally foraged from around the area where the distillery is based, including wood sorrel, chervil root, bee pollen, birch sap and more. LBD Project AFG Gin Micro Batch Scottish Gin also features classic gin botanicals including juniper, coriander and angelica. The result is a combination of the classic gin profile of juniper, spice and citrus mixed with hints of herbaceous, earthy notes, representative of the local landscape. The gin is distilled using both macerations of the dry botanicals and vapour infusion basket for the fresh botanicals. This method allows the flavours from some of the more delicate botanicals to come through in the distillation process along with the classic gin flavours from the macerated botanicals.
Key Botanical(s): Birch Sap, Chevril Root, Bee Pollen
Gin Style: Distilled
Strength: 43.7% vol
Goes great with: A slice of apple, tonic and ice.
The distillery collaborated with Cove Park and the Cove Sailing Club as part of the Dandelion unexpected garden project, a "grow your own" initiative which invites everyone to sow, grow and share, food, music, knowledge and ideas. Using rock samphire, oyster leaf and sea kale from the garden, with rowan buds and sugar kelp from the surrounding coastline, this is a very limited release of only 120 bottles.
Key Botanical(s): Rock Samphire, Oyster Leaf, Sea Kale, Rowan Buds, Sugar Kelp
Gin Style: London Dry
Strength: 43% vol
Goes great with: A slice of apple, tonic and ice.
LBD Gin Bennachie Edition is a limited edition of only 300 bottles. Developed in collaboration with Bailies of Bennachie, a voluntary conservation society that was established in 1973 to manage and look after one of Aberdeenshire’s most well known and well loved landmarks, Bennachie. The gin features a number of botanicals foraged from the hill including gorse, heather, lingonberry, blaeberry and wild raspberry. The gin flavour profile provides notes of fresh summer berries and some green herbaceous undertones, balanced with a fresh and drying finish. A percentage of each bottle sold will be donated to the Bailies of Bennachie charity.
Key Botanical(s): Gorse, Lingonberry, Blaeberry
Gin Style: Distilled
Strength: 43% vol
Goes great with: A few raspberries, tonic and ice.
Little Brown Dog Spirits Distillery, a micro-distillery in rural Aberdeenshire, is a stone’s throw from the local landmark of Bennachie. The distillery focuses on flavour and producing innovative spirits, including gin, that combine provenance and break down some of the traditions associated with the world of spirits. The distillery is home to a 100 litre traditional Alembic copper pot still named ‘Big Dug’ along with a smaller 10 litre development still fittingly named ‘Wee Dug’.
Tour: No
Shop: No
Booking: Not open to the public
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