Scottish Gin News

Round-Up December 2019.

Published: 1st January 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.

New Scottish Gin Distilleries

City of Aberdeen Distillery

Located under a railway arch in the heart of Aberdeen, the City of Aberdeen Distillery has opened; the city’s first gin distillery for nearly 100 years. The distillery has officially launched tours and its gin school experience, where gin lovers can learn about the history of gin and distilling, select from over 100 botanicals and create a gin using a their very own copper alembic mini-still.

The distillery team has developed a few recipes for their signature gin and they will put it to the people of Aberdeen to choose the winning gin, which will ultimately become their flagship gin, to be released in early 2020.

If you would like to book a tour or gin school experience visit the website here.

New Scottish Gins

Stirling Winter Gin

This Winter Gin from the team at Stirling Distillery has all the warmth and spice you would expect from a winter gin. Not only does it include warming spices, cinnamon, ginger and orange, the gin was then infused for a month with apples from the owner’s garden, creating a initial taste of apple strudel, followed by a rounding creaminess on the finish, enhanced by the milk thistle and rhubarb root. We’ve been told this makes a wonderful hot toddy. This gin is a limited release and is available exclusively from the distillery shop.

The label artwork was created an Art & Design Student from North Lanarkshire College, who won following a round of presentations to the Stirling Distillery team. Not only does it feature many of the botanicals featured in the Winter Gin, but it also includes an illustration and story dedicated to Stirling’s legendary big bad wolf!

Learn more about Stirling Gin here.

Garden Shed Bramble Peach Gin

The Garden Shed Drinks Company released their much anticipated Bramble Peach Gin in early December, which has been infused with fresh blackberries and peaches, giving it a natural sweetness and colour. The team were inspired to create their signature Garden Shed Gin using various botanicals from their garden, including blackberries, so it seemed fitting to infuse their new gin with this wonderfully sweet botanical, which is fertilised and protected by bee pollen. The team continue to support the Bumblebee Conservation Trust by raising awareness and donating a portion of their profits towards the trust.

Learn more about Garden Shed Gin here.

Wild Island Distillers Cut Colonsay Gin

The fourth release in the Distillers Cut series of gins, Wild Island Distillers Cut Colonsay Gin is the first release in the series that comes in a 70cl and features the packaging style from the core Wild Island gin expressions. Distilled on the Isle of Colonsay, the gin was created using a total of seventeen botanicals, seven of which are foraged from the island including redcurrants, lemon balm and sea buckthorn.

Learn more about Colonsay Beverages here.

Scottish Gin News

Edinburgh Gin Filled With Wonder

It was an exciting month for Edinburgh Gin as they launched their first ever TV advert, with the premiere projected onto The Dome Restaurant on George Street in the capital. The team marked the occasion with their #FilledWithWonder campaign, which included launching Edinburgh Gin-filled Safes padlocked shut with a secret combination.

We were one of the lucky recipients and our personalised safe was accompanied by a riddle, which we were able to solve with the launch of the TV advert.

Watch the TV advert here.

Learn more about Edinburgh Gin here.

Garden Shed Gin planting trees

As well as campaigning for Bumblebee Conservation Trust, the team also donate some profits to Trees4Scotland and during December the team at Garden Shed Gin were part of a group who planted 100 trees in Comrie Perthshire, giving real meaning to their motto “planting trees and saving bees”!

Learn more about Trees4Scotland and Bumblebee Conservation Trust.

Construction underway at The Port of Leith Distillery

What an incredible journey the team at The Port of Leith Distillery have been on… and to think construction of their state of the art distillery is just underway in Edinburgh’s Port of Leith. The makers of Lind & Lime Gin really are writing their very own, important chapter in the story of Scottish Gin and Scottish Spirits. Exciting to see them pushing the boundaries and researching fermentation to not only create some special whisky, but to really understand the process and move the industry forward. We wish them to best of luck as construction continues and we can’t wait to visit when it’s finally up (and we mean ten floors up!) The marked the occasion by releasing a short film about their story so far.

Watch the short film here.

Learn more about The Port of Leith Distillery here.

Ginvent

Gin Foundry’s annual Ginvent has been well received once again and we were delighted to see some Scottish Gins make an appearance, including Loch Ness Spirits’ signature Highland Gin, Rock Rose’s Pink Grapefruit Old Tom, Caorunn Raspberry Gin and Pickering’s Gin festive Brussel Sprout Gin! A real mixture of brands, styles and tastes, stirring up lots of gin discussion online.

Ginvent is curated and put together with care and understanding as a journey through the wider world of world, highlighting gins from around the globe. Ginvent was the first gin advent calendar of its kind and is held in high regard as being one of the best gin advent calendars available.

To coincide with the Ginvent 2019 Calendar, the team also opened up a pop-up shop in Nottinghill London. The shop provided the opportunity for consumers to try samples along with learning more about the gins featured and the people behind them.

Learn more about Ginvent here.

Giving thanks

We launched our very own digital Christmas Advent, which revealed a number of fantastic Scottish Gins over month of December in the lead up to Christmas Day. A small thanks to our wonderful Scottish Gin members of The Gin Cooperative. Our aim was to provide our followers with some Scottish Gin festive inspiration over the festive period with a clear message – if you want to find yourself on Santa’s good list, give the gift of Scottish Gin.

Watch our Christmas Advent highlight reel here.

We would also like to say thanks to all our new and loyal followers, who have joined us on this Scottish Gin journey throughout 2019, particularly throughout November and December with our recent spate of competitions. We’re going to be posting our look back at 2019 soon, along with our predictions for Scottish Gin in 2020.

We’ve had an amazing year in Scottish Gin along with our members who have given us their trust and support over the last year. We’ve got some exciting plans and ideas for 2020 and will continue to inspire, educate and help the consumer discover and enjoy the wonderful world of Scottish Gin.

The Gin Cooperative Features December 2019

Here’s a look back at the editorial features we published in December 2019.

Scottish Gin News Round-Up for November 2019 – read it here.

Time for Gin, Esker Spirits – watch it here.

Meet the Blogger, Nic’s Gin and Beer – read it here.

My Scottish Gin Journey, SOS Gin – read it here.

A Recipe for Gin, Gorse Coastal Gin, Lundin Distilling – read it here.

Shaken & Stirred, Raspberry Ripple, Lundin Distilling – find out how to make it here.

A day in the life of Marcus Pickering, Pickering’s Gin – read it here.

Shaken & Stirred, Ginger Ninja, Glaswegin – find out how to make it here.

Meet the Distiller, Iain Robertson, Isle of Raasay Distillery – read it here.

News & Features Awards Scottish Gins