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 Gins
Rock Rose Apple & Lavender Gin, Dunnet Bay Distillers
Dunnet Bay Distillers, the makers of Rock Rose Gin, released the second gin expression in their Creative Collection series. A Limited Edition gin expression, Apple & Lavender Gin is distilled using vapour infusion. The lavender and apples were hung in a botanical basket inside the still so when the alcohol vapours begin to rise they’re pulled through the basket extracting subtle and delicate oils and flavours from the botanicals. This method means delicate flavours aren’t boiled off, which can sometimes occur with delicate botanicals.
Learn more about Dunnet Bay Distillers here.
McQueen Coconut & Lime Gin, Trossachs Distillery
McQueen Gin released their new Coconut & Lime Gin, a world first. Available exclusively from Sainsbury’s stores here in the UK, the gin flavour profile was true to the McQueen way of making gin. Using natural ingredients and distillation, this new gin expression is said to capture a taste of the Caribbean.
Learn more about McQueen Gin here.
Drover’s Gin Artist Edition, The Wee Farm Distillery
The Wee Farm Distillery in South Lanarkshire released an Artist Edition of their popular Drover’s Gin. Featuring a presentation case and label that featured the artwork of the ‘Drover’s Coo’ by local Scottish artist Jane Laird. Drovers Gin was created as a tribute to the many hardy Drovers and Farmers who over the centuries have helped Scotland build a reputation for fantastic livestock and producing the very best quality food. Drovers Gin was created with food pairing in mind and contains pink peppercorns and allspice, two botanicals which compliment and work well alongside steak.
Learn more about Jenny McKerr, “gin farmer” at The Wee Farm Distillery here.
Events
The Gin to my Tonic Show, Glasgow
The Gin to my Tonic Show came to Glasgow for the first time. The event saw close to 50 gin producers from around the world, including a number of Scottish Gin makers and brands, take over the SEC. Some of the gin makers to take part included Raven Spirits the makers of Hrafn Gin, Mackintosh Gin, Badachro Gin, Edinburgh Gin, Eden Mill and Esker Spirits. All three Orkney Gin makers were in attendance – Orkney Distilling the team behind Kirkjuvagr, Orkney Gin Company and Deerness Distillery.
We thought the venue and organisation of the event was fantastic. It had a corporate event feel due to the size of the venue and sheer number of gin makers and brands but was undoubtedly a friendly, welcoming gin event. Having chatted with Paul, one half of the team behind The Gin to my Tonic business, it was pretty clear Paul and his business partner Emira, the other half of the team were focused on creating gin events that gave the consumer a chance to explore and learn.
We also took the time to meet up with some others from the gin community including Euan Harris who runs From The Gin Shelf, Katie Hughes from What’s Katie Doing? and Nicola Glassford from Gin & Beer. We also briefly had a chat with Andrew Gordon who runs The Gin Den. Both Katie and Andrew had travelled up from down South to attend the event. We highly recommend you go and check out all the good gin folk we’ve highlighted above on social media.
It’s safe to say the format for the event was brilliant and the feedback we had from various sources was that the event was brilliantly organised, that no question or request put to the organisers was too big to deal with. We guess it’s half the battle when setting-up for a gin event, is knowing that you’re in safe hands when it comes to the event organisers being able to remove some of the stress. A big well done to Paul, Emira and the team on organising and running such a brilliant event.
Learn more about The Gin to my Tonic here.
The Gin Cooperative Features March 2019
Here’s a look back at the editorial features we published in March 2019.
Scottish Gin News Round-Up February – read it here.
Meet the Maker, Iain Brown, Lundin Distilling – read it here.
The Gin Cooperative Followers Survey 2019 – read it here.
Women of Gin, Jill Brown, Avva Scottish Gin – read it here.
A day in the life of Stuart Ingram, House of Elrick – read it here.
Growing with Gin, Jenny McKerr, The Wee Farm Distillery – read it here.
Shaken & Stirred, Even Crusaders Stop For Tea, King’s Hill Gin – find out how to make it here.
Meet the Blogger, Katie Hughes, What’s Katie Doing? – read it here.
The Wonderful World of Scottish Gin, James Sutherland, 56 North – read it here.
Beautiful Botanicals – read it here.
You can learn more about the many great Scottish Gins by visiting the links below.
