Tyree Gin, 70 cl

Product Information

The main difficulties have been connected with the remoteness of our distillery and the options available to us in such a remote location. Thankfully things are now going to plan! Cairngorm Gin is a handcrafted premium distilled gin, produced in small batches of just 70 bottles in a traditional copper pot still, named Ginger, using a blend of nine botanicals including juniper, cloudberries, elderflower and Caledonian pine, partnered with coriander seed, orris root, sweet orange peel, angelica and kaffir lime, which are all distilled along with fresh water collected from the River Spey. As well as this, Tiree’s water is amongst the hardest in the UK, with a large amount of solids contained in it. Production water was up to 500ppm so we had to invest in various filters for use in our production process. Tyree (the old spelling of Tiree) Gin was created to celebrate the stunning landscape where it is distilled. Produced using Kelp harvested from the icy waters and a range of botanicals from the machair ground inland from the shore of the island combined with juniper, water-mint and angelica, this is a fresh, pure island spirit. Coming home

At the beginning of the pandemic, the distillery produced hand sanitiser free of charge for any companies or individuals on the island that required it. In December, they also helped to spread some festive cheer by giving a free miniature of Tyree Gin or Hebridean Pink Gin to every islander over the age of 18. I have a very keen interest in local history and one thing that kept on popping up while doing various research projects on aspects of Tiree’s history was the amount of distillers that operated on the island between the 18th and 19th Centuries (both legally and illicitly!). Tighter regulation, both from the estate and the government, also squeezed the industry. The minister's 1792 report went on: "The parish [of Tiree and Coll] [a few years ago] had upwards of thirty stills, but is now reduced to three small licensed one." And now, after eighteen months of contract distilling in London by Thames Distillers. The company is celebrating the release of the first island-distilled batch of Tyree Gin. Sales of the London-distilled gin helped to fund the renovation of an industrial shed in West Hynish in the southwest of the island and a 250-litre G-Still was installed there in late 2018. How do the two of you manage to find enough time to run the business, make gin and at the same time touring and playing with your band Trail West?

10. BRENTINGBY GIN

Myself and my business partner are very into the local history - we love reading about the island’s written historical accounts and one of the things I discovered was that between 1790 and 1791 there were 157 people caught distilling illegally, and one in every ten was evicted from their croft or holding. We thought this history was fascinating - there were hundreds of years of history of whisky production on the island - and we thought, why has nobody tried to revive that?” They produced a sample gin using the botanicals we’d sourced and after a couple of tweaks, we finalised the recipe. We then officially launched at Tiree Music Festival 2017. We launched the gin in the 2017 Tiree Music Festival and sold out about 1,000 bottles I think. It was brilliant.” Launching in stores from the 26 May, the Scottish gin festival features a range of twelve spirits, including four expertly mixed, ready-to-drink cans, that offer gin lovers floral and fruit drinks that are ideal for warmer weather. We are very proud to have achieved one of our goals of establishing a distillery in Tiree, the first since 1801. On an island with a fragile economy, it is a great feeling to revive an industry that has been dormant for such a long time.

Chair of the judging panel, Adam Hardie, Partner and Head of Food and Drink at Johnston Carmichael, said: “It continues to be a very tough and challenging year but many are not just surviving but excelling. We got a tasting panel together and there was no shortage of applications”, Ian laughs. “We’ve got a good team of friends who tried it - Daniel and Stuart and even some famous musicians, such as Ian Bayne from Runrig.” With the distillery located on a rural estate, we have to rely on some private services such as water – this means that every summer we are watching the skies to see if it will rain, as we can often run dry, even in Kintyre! Just remember, today’s rain is tomorrow’s gin! The brand is named after George Chinnery, the English painter, who began his career in Dublin, before travelling to China. The bottle is inspired by these two parts of his career – Georgian Dublin and Imperial China.

41. NORDÉS GIN

Tiree Whisky Company is the producer of Tyree Gin and Hebridean Pink Gin, both of which are handcrafted and bottled on the Inner Hebridean Isle of Tiree. As the first legal distillery on the island for over 200 years, and with so many links to the history of Tiree, what does the future hold? The island of Tiree is the most westerly of the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. It is a relatively low-lying island with an area of 7,834 hectares and a population of around 650. The distillery's flagship product is the world’s first Oyster Gin, a premium gin made by charging the still with the shells of fresh Scottish oysters. The waters of Scotland’s west coast are famous for their oyster beds and Isle of Bute Gin's come from the beautiful Loch Fyne. The oyster shells add a delicate maritime essence to the spirit – blended with citrus and other botanicals to create a savoury gin which is a perfect pair to seafood and the ideal base for a martini. Inspired by the White-tailed eagles which have given the Isle of Mull its name of Eagle Island, the award-winning Whitetail Gin is handcrafted at the island’s first distillery in over 220 years in a traditional copper-pot still named Penny.