Tyree Gin, 70 cl

Product Information

Meanwhile, just across the water, Isle of Islay Gin also takes inspiration from sunny local blooms with its deliciously differentNerabus Gorse Gin (40% ABV). 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." 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. 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!).

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. Noted for its smoothness and strength (just like its namesake), Whitetail Gin sells to customers including Selfridges and British chef Marco Pierre White. The Scottish Gin Awards have revealed gin brands which have successfully achieved medal status in 2023, following the awards dinner in Glasgow this month. 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. Having the gin produced elsewhere but using local ingredients helped fund the renovation of an industrial shed in West Hynish in the southwest of the island and in February 2019, after a break of 217 years, Tiree was once again home to an operational distillery.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? Distilled with passion, it launched its first award-winning signature gin, which captures the flavour of the Cairngorms. 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 estate was particularly concerned by the stills' voracious peat consumption and The Duke instructed the Tiree chamberlain in 1789: "As you mentioned two licensed stills are to be erected in the island, you should take measures for having both erected so as they may be carried on with coal ... otherways they will soon waste the little fuel that is in the island."

So in a bid to do just that, The Tiree Whisky Company launched a whisky titled The Cairnsmuir - a 19 year old Speyside malt. By 1801, the chamberlain still spoke of "spirits, to which the natives are much addicted." That same year, however, 157 islanders were found guilty of illegal distilling; in addition to a court fine, the new chamberlain, Dr McLaurin, was instructed to evict one in ten offenders as a warning. The Duke went further, demanding that all barley not needed for food should be sent directly to him at Inveraray Castle. Ten years after the legal distilleries had been set up, "none could be found on the island willing to undertake the distilling in a legal way" and by 1802 the duke pulled the plug completely: "The barley to be exported as last year, and no distilling permitted." The Duke responded three years later by asking about "the most effectual methods of crushing distillery". In 1794, the Duke chided the chamberlain, accusing him of allowing "the tenants to drink their barley" rather than paying rent. 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?” This link with the music festival continued this year with the bars serving Tyree Gin and launching an exclusive bottling of TMF10 whisky - created to mark the festival’s tenth year.We formed Tiree Whisky Company to preserve and promote the island’s distilling heritage and from that moment on, we began researching the possibility of releasing a local gin. We were put in touch with Thames Distillers Ltd in London and arranged a meeting to provide them with some local Tiree botanicals and kelp. Almost 200 gins - all distilled in Scotland - were blind tasted this year and medals awarded in 11 categories. 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. Tyree Gin truly reflects the landscape in which it is distilled. Kelp harvested from the icy waters provides sweetness as well as coastal salty flavours and floral, grassy and vanilla notes are achieved using a range of botanicals from the machair ground inland from the shore. The ultimate award, Scottish Gin Distillery of the Year, was presented for a second year in a row to North Uist Distillery. They also collected the award for Best New Product of the Year for their Downpour Coast & Croft Gin.

This award-winning gin was the brainchild of two whisky distillery managers who also happened to be gin enthusiasts. Their aim was to create a spirit that would appeal to seasoned gin drinks but also entice a new market of non-gin drinkers and convert them to gin. And so they set about creating a gin that would have subtle fruitiness and a soft creamy finish. Drawing upon their joint experience of over 25 years in the distilling industry, the long experiment began using as much locally grown botanicals as possible. In the highly sought-after taste competition, 11 Gold Medals were presented with Edinburgh Gin collecting two gold medals. 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! Our distillery has now been operational for just over a year and continues to go from strength to strength. We had hoped to open to the public and offer tours this year but this has been put on hold for now, like everything else! We feel as though the island’s distilling history isn’t widely known about so this heritage will be an important part of our tours and we are looking forward to sharing this story with locals and visitors to the island once things return to some kind of normal.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. Whitetail launched its new gin liqueur range at the end of last summer using seasonal fruits and botanicals hand-foraged from the family’s 56-acre Tiroran estate and from around the island. The flavours include rhubarb, vanilla and ginger, aqua mint and lime, late summer berry, grapefruit and rosemary and lemon balm and elderflower. 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.