At the moment we’re a micro gin distillery although the long-term project has always been to transition into making whisky. That being said, we’ve got plans for other flavoured spirits this year so watch this space. The Scottish Gin Awards is one of the UK’s most comprehensive and highly regarded gin competitions as it assesses both taste and business performance. The ultimate award, Scottish Gin Distillery of the Year, was presented to North Uist Distillery who have created a formidable business with an impressive range of gins. They also collected the award for Excellent in Branding. The Scottish Gin Awards are sponsored by Vetroelite, Rankin & Sons, MacRoberts, Joseph Flach & Sons and Kimia.

In the highly sought after taste competition, 12 Gold Medals were presented with Caorunn, Edinburgh Gin, Holyrood Distillery and Isle of Bute each collecting 2 golds each. Holyrood Distillery and Eden Mill tied in first place for the most amount of medals achieved with each of them taking home 4 medal positions. Kinrara’s highland distillery is nestled in 12,000 acres of Cairngorm National Park, just outside Aviemore. One of Soctland's newest micro distilleries they make Highland dry gin and liqueurs and will eventually produce single malt and rum. Kinrara distillery prides itself on creating a handcrafted small batch spirit. From the distillation of the gin right down to the bottling, everything is lovingly done by hand, by our passionate highland team. The distillery tell us 'Our gins are developed on ‘Wee Alice’, a fifty litre Hoga copper pot still which is ideal for creating unique spirits. Once we are happy with the recipes, we move up to our 100 litre stills for production. These are as yet unnamed. The distillation process sees us macerating our botanicals for several hours.'

Consider this similar product...

We’re based in an old farm steading on the Kinrara Estate just outside of Aviemore. The estate itself has a fascinating history, originally it was the private estate of Lady Jane Gordon, wife of Alexander, 4th Duke of Gordon, who was instrumental in the raising of the Gordon Highlanders Army Regiment. Lady Jane was well known for entertaining, hosting soirées both in the Highlands and in Edinburgh, where it’s said Robert Burns gave a first reading of his poetry to Edinburgh society. I’ve no idea if Lady Jane would have been a gin drinker but I like to hope that her spirit of hospitality extends to what we do here at the distillery. A juniper led dry gin, combining both foraged and locally sourced botanicals. The rosehip’s and rowan berries that we use in the gin have been gathered from the estate grounds throughout the year. With a nose which is fruity and Floral with a hint of Rosehip and slight sweetness, and a slightly Floral, Juniper led dry gin with a long subtle orange finish on the palate. Almost 200 gin products were analysed in a wide-ranging blind tasting session carried out as part of a live event and managed by the international sensory management consultancy Cara Technology.

Last year Lidl's gin range increased by 41 per cent across UK stores - a testament to the country’s growing interest in craft gin. Past festivalshave featured gins from Makar, Ginerosity and Strathearn, and the exposure has allowed these boutique Scottish businesses to expand their reach and give customers nationwide the chance to try their products. When it comes to accommodation in Scotland, there's a fantastic choice of amazing stays from luxury hotels to glamping getaways. The Scottish Gin Awards is the one of the largest gin competitions in the UK and revealed its winners last night following a rigorous judging process involving 46 leading experts, the assessment of 63 written entries and the blind tasting of over 200 gins, all distilled in Scotland.

Try a Kinrara Hibiscus Gin Sample…

gins, created by 56 Scottish gin producers have progressing to the finals of the national competition which combines large scale taste and business assessments. To be named a finalist is a massive achievement, especially given the challenges of the last 2 and a half years and shows the true resilience and innovation of our industry. The ultimate award, Scottish Gin Distillery of the Year, was presented to North Uist Distillery who have created an impressive range of gins. They also collected the award for Excellent in Branding.

Start up gin businesses including Fassfern Distillery and Rutland Square Gin also collected medals, with Rutland Square Gin, made under contract at Summerhall Distillery, collecting the Gold Medal for Best Flavoured Gin. Although I am partial to a well-made Negroni or Dry Martini, I think the ultimate way to enjoy gin is in the humble G and T. I’m a bit of a gin obsessive so always keen to try something new when I go to an unfamiliar pub or bar. I think ‘perfect serve’ as a concept is a great result of the recent boom in gin, it’s a way for the distillery to highlight some of the principle or more unusual flavours in a gin. I like to enjoy our Kinrara Highland Dry with plenty of ice, a twist of orange peel and Fever Tree Mediterranean tonic. Any new product goes through a long process of research and development. With our flagship Highland Dry gin, we started by distilling samples of the two estate-foraged botanicals, rosehips and rowan berries, before tasting them individually and thinking what other flavours would complement them. I also looked into the scientific literature to see the composition of their essential oils to help guide the process. From there, it was a case of running a lot of trial distillations on the 1.5 litre still and seeing which we liked best, both in terms of different flavours and intensity of flavours.

Start building a set…

Over 300 guests from the Scottish drinks industry joined to celebrate achievements, which included the announcement of the winner of the top award of the night, Scottish Gin Distillery of the Year 2022. The Scottish Gin Awards is the one of the largest gin competitions in the UK and revealed its winners following a rigorous judging process involving 46 leading experts, the assessment of 63 written entries and the blind tasting of over 200 gins, all distilled in Scotland. The Scottish Gin Awards 2023 launches in the New Year and takes place in Glasgow in November. To register for updates visit www.scottishginawards.co.uk