Scottish Gin News

Round-Up April 2020.

Published: 1st May 2020

Our end of month round-up captures some of the exciting news from the wonderful world of Scottish Gin. From new Scottish Gin expressions to distillery openings and more. If you’ve got a story you’d like us to consider for inclusion in next month’s Scottish Gin News Round-Up then email hello@thegincooperative.com.

April was the first full calendar month of lockdown, with 1st May 2020 marking 40 days for the UK. It’s been a testing time for everyone, with some positive and some negative trends occurring as a result of the lockdown. Once again, we want to take this opportunity to say thank you to everyone who’s playing their part by staying at home and especially to those working day and night across the UK to keep us all safe, fed and looked after.

For Scottish Gin producers, the closure of bars and hospitality-based businesses, and in some cases their own distillery shops and experiences, is having a significant impact on business. It’s been impressive to see so many move quickly to offer new services, such as gin & tonic packs, local contactless home delivery, virtual gin tastings, tours and even gin schools, not to mention all the product and shipping discounts.

We remind everyone that the best way to support the Scottish Gin industry right now is to support local and buy from the producers around you. Our directory and free downloadable resources will point you in the right direction. Visit our directory and sort by location here or download our Scottish Gin Map here.

The demand for hand sanitiser continues and the Scottish Gin producers have risen to the challenge. Some have self-funded, some have crowd-funded and most have inevitably moved to a charge model. A big well done to everyone involved who has gone out of their way to play a role in helping their local communities and front line health services – we can be truly proud of Scotland’s Gin industry.

New Scottish Gins

Kelso Gin Company’s Crow Man’s Lockdown Gin 

Launched just this week, Crow Man’s Lockdown Gin is a subtle citrus twist on the brand’s signature Crow Man’s Gin. This light-hearted Lockdown Gin is available exclusively from Kelso Gin Company with free postage and packaging for as long as lockdown continues. Kelso Gin Company is one of a few in Scotland who use organic base spirit for all their gins. This limited edition gin is described as a classic juniper-led gin but with a healthy citrus burst; deliciously smooth and can simply be enjoyed neat over ice.

Buy Kelso Gin Company’s Crow Man’s Lockdown Gin here.

Learn more about Kelso Gin Company here.

The Gin Guide Awards 2020

The finalists and winners of The Gin Guide Awards 2020 were announced during April. Scottish Gin had good representation across a number of categories. Mikkelmas Gin from Orkney Gin Company picked up Geographic High Score in the Compound Gin and the Contemporary Gin categories.

1881 Distillery’s London Dry Hydro Gin picked up Geographic High Score in the Traditional Gin category whilst their Navy Strength Hydro Gin picked up Highly Commended and a Geographic High Score in the Navy Strength category.

We were also humbled and surprised to see our very own International Scottish Gin Day nominated under best gin event and in amongst brilliant company. Nominees in the events category are voted for by the industry so it means even more to us that we were up for an award in an Industry Choice category.

With a lot of hard work behind the scenes, we created the concept and website, collaborated with a variety of businesses and jumped in both feet first. We prioritised our members and made them the official Scottish Gins of ISGD 2019 but we left the day open for all of Scotland’s Gin makers, who make Gin in Scotland, to be involved.

It’s nice to see all our hard work recognised. Even before we established The Gin Cooperative, we were waiting for a Scottish Gin Day or event that put the focus on Scottish Gin. There were other events and days that were brilliant for the wider gin industry but nothing for Scottish Gin. So we decided a few months after setting up The Gin Cooperative that we would do something and do it our own way that benefitted the Scottish Gin makers, the wider drinks industry and could be celebrated the world over.

In the end the award went our good friends at The Gin To My Tonic Show, which was definitely well deserved.

Doing things differently 

As is the case with most businesses, large and small, our short and medium term plans have changed with the current lockdown restrictions and we want our activities to be appropriate and sensitive of the impact of COVID-19.

With that in mind, we’ve introduced a few new things for our followers and members to get involved in…

Scottish Gin Hour

We completed our second ever Scottish Gin Hour last night. A very informal, quick fire round of questions, focussed around Scottish Gin, which brings together gin drinkers, communicators and producers. It’s a great way to pick up tips and trends and share ideas and recommendations. We’ve made this a permanent monthly fixture, taking place the last Thursday of every month at 9pm on Twitter.

A Round of Scottish Gin

The Gin Cooperative is in a unique position that we’ve met and got to know a number of brilliant Scottish Gin makers, business owners, bloggers and gin communicators. It’s provided us with the chance to make new friends, talk gin with some of the most respected and knowledgable people in the industry and have plenty of laughs along the way.

Like other businesses we’ve looked at how we can use technology to create and share more of these brilliant moments with our audience and provide a new way of helping our members and friends from the world of gin share their stories. Plus it’s a great excuse to share a virtual G&T and escape lockdown even if it is just for half an hour or so in an evening.

Generally these take place every Monday, Wednesday and sometimes Friday evening at 8pm and it goes out live on our Facebook page. You can catch up with all our A Round of Scottish Gin videos here.

Scottish Gin Photo Competition

We’ve asked our followers to get creative during lockdown and post their own Scottish Gin photos to enter our Scottish Gin Photo Competition. You certainly don’t have to be a professional photographer to get creative, with most mobile phones featuring a good quality camera, everyone over the age of 18 years and based in the UK can get involved.

You might take a photo of yourself enjoying your favourite Scottish Gin or you might create and photograph a cocktail that you’ve made at home or it could simply be your favourite Scottish Gin. All we ask is that your photo feature a Scottish Gin bottle that’s listed in our Scottish Gin directory here and tag your photo/s with #ScottishGinPhotoComp #SupportScottishGin. Entries can be made on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The top 3 photos win a fantastic Scottish Gin prize. Competition remains open until further notice. Standard competition terms apply, view them here. Good luck and get creative!

International Scottish Gin Day 2020

Given all that’s going on, we’re postponing International Scottish Gin Day (ISGD) to Saturday 24th October 2020. We can only speculate when things will return to the new normal so we’ve been mindful to pick a date far enough into the year, giving everyone, including bars, distilleries, retailers and gin lovers time to plan and attend events.

It goes without saying that we want International Scottish Gin Day 2020 to be a huge success and we feel pushing the date to Saturday 24th October 2020 will provide sufficient time for hospitality based businesses to get on their feet again and plan for their own ISGD events and offers.

International Scottish Gin Day is completely free to host an event and the format is entirely open, allowing participants and venues to get involved according to their own strategy and budget. You can find out more about how to host your own unique ISGD event here. If you would like to know more, email us on hello@internationalscottishginday.com.

We look forward to a bringing you all the news, events and updates on ISGD 2020. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to get the latest news as it happens.

In the meantime, we would like to thank our sponsors, new and existing, for their ongoing support. Confirmed sponsors include Friends of ANCHOR, LSA International, VetroElite, Rankin Brothers & Sons, Image on Glass, Joseph Flach & Sons, Scottish Gin Awards, Design & Code and Reid Advertising & Design.

The Gin Cooperative Features April 2020

Here’s a look back at the editorial features we published in April 2020.

Scottish Gin News Round-Up March 2020 – read it here.

A New Chapter in Scottish Gin, Tyree Gin – read it here.

Women of Gin, Debbie Strang, Shetland Reel – read it here.

Meet the Distiller, David Wilson, Kinrara Distillery – read it here.

For the Love of Gin, Stirling Gin – read it here.

Scottish Gins Experiences Awards