What a Ginspiration!

 

How many of you enjoy a little Martini every once in a while? Or a gin and tonic at the end of a long, hard day? Probably quite a few of you considering 40 million bottles of gin were bought last year in the UK alone. But I wonder how many of you actually know the method behind gin distilling and where it comes from?

 

Actually 70% of gin consumed in the UK is sourced from Scotland. This includes some of the most famous gins in the market such as Caorunn, Edinburgh (as you might have already guessed), Hendrick’s and even Gordon’s gin and Tanqueray are Scottish. This might be due to the fact that Scottish gin is seen to be of a higher quality than gins from other countries, perhaps on the back of whisky.

 

Scotland first fell for gin way back in the 1700s, when the Port of Leith welcomed the first bottles of Dutch Jenever into the country. The rest was history. Ever since, Scotland has been a main source of gin and now it is even predicted that UK gin sales are ‘to outstrip Scotch whisky by 2020.’ However, there is more to Scottish gin than first meets the eye.

 

If we take a look right back at the start, gin making begins as a neutral grain spirit at 96% abv, which effectively classed it as a very strong vodka. After that it is ‘redistilled’ using botanicals, the most common one being juniper, which is essential in the gin making process. This redistilling technique is one of the main factors that makes Scottish gin stand out from the rather tipsy crowd.

 

The methods of making Scottish gin can be split into three categories; grain to glass, Scottish distilled and Scottish botanicals. Grain to glass are the gin that stand proudly on their own. These gins use their own base spirit and redistil with their own botanicals grown from scratch. This might seem like the correct and the most honest way to make gin, however at the moment there are only three Scottish gin brands that actually use this production method. Scottish distilled gins will buy their base spirit as they cannot be produced in the distillery for whatever reason. Then, botanicals are picked and the gin is redistilled. And then there are Scottish botanicals, that gather local herbs and botanicals for distilling and send them to large distilleries, often in England, to create their gin but with some Scottish ingredients.

 

There have been arguments, however, about whether Scottish botanical gins are really as Scottish as they would like to be seen. Some argue that if the gins ingredients are not grown in Scotland and the distilling process is not done in Scotland then it just simply is not Scottish. The majority believe that a gin can be classed as Scottish as long as the process of turning it from vodka into gin is done in Scotland but the line can seem quite blurry as Scotland does not grow enough juniper to supply enough for all the gins in Scotland. On a survey I conducted, figures showed that 63% of those who participated did not know the process of making Scottish gin, however just over 80% said they would be more inclined to purchase a gin that they knew was sourced and distilled in Scotland. As confusing as it may seem though, the bottom line is that Scottish gins create Scottish jobs in Scottish communities and, surely, that is what matters the most.

 

Well, clearly, Scottish gin is rapidly making it’s mark in our culture which is all the more reason to create a legal definition of ‘Scottish Gin’ just as we have for ‘Scottish Whisky’. It is becoming more and more popular as the years go on and endless amounts of distilleries are opening up all over Scotland, from Girvan to Dundee and even the Orkney islands. Although gin has got a fair bit to go before overtaking the whisky trade, that managed to rake in just over £4 billion in exports and total sales last year, there is no denying it’s growing popularity throughout the country and the rest of the world. In the last year alone, 25 new Scottish gins have been launched taking our total figure up to 53 gins. Exports of the delicious spirit rose by an impressive 12%, beating exports of soft drinks and even British beef, making last year “the year of gin.” It is becoming more popular by the year and why wouldn’t it? You can let me know if you think of a more fun way of keeping local and national distilleries alive than getting drunk.

 

53 Scottish gins to choose from. The only problem now is having to pick just one.