What did you do before distilling Edinburgh Gin? I was a chef for 12 years, as well as working in Edinburgh I was lucky enough to work all over the world, in Paris, Australia and even Glasgow! In many ways making gin is like cooking for a living, I still work with flavour and it’s very creative at times, but the hours are better and I get shouted at less! Can you tell us more about the distillery and stills? We have 3 stills. 2 x 2,000L and 1 x 250, named Annie, Lina & Matilda, all from Carl Stills in Goppingen in Germany. They make amazing stills, arguably the best in the world, and our stills from our previous distillery in the West End were also from Carl so we know how they work. They should provide all the capacity we ever need and they look incredible. Our new site at The Arches on East Market Street Arches is amazing, right next to Waverley Station and just off the Royal Mile, so bang in the middle of Edinburgh. It’s been a colossal undertaking creating a distillery like this. It’s truly unique but there’s a reason more people don’t do it! Can you tell us more about your distillation process? First we macerate our botanicals in neutral spirit overnight in our maceration tanks in the plant room. We then pump our macerate through to its respective still in the morning and fill our vapour infusion baskets with our lighter or more floral botanicals which don’t benefit from maceration. The stills are heated by electric water baths and gently raise the temperature of the spirit until distillation begins. We then take our heads heart and tails cuts and the distillation is over in about 12 hours, producing about 1,000L per run. Can you tell us more about the botanicals you use? Botanically speaking it really depends what we’re making. Traditionally we took a lot of inspiration for our gins and liqueurs from what was around us, Raspberry, Elderflower, and the botanicals in Seaside and our Botanic Gardens gin. Gin is such a global drink though, with its roots so linked to spice trading etc that we use botanicals from all over the world, notably Szechuan pepper and Yuzu in our Cannonball Gin. Our juniper comes from either the Balkans or Italy depending on what we're making - different gins require different styles of juniper. Scotland’s climate unfortunately doesn’t exactly lend itself to citrus production either… and there’s loads of citrus in our Classic Gin. How big is the distilling team and what roles do you each have? There are just four of us in the production team - I’m the Distillery Manager, overseeing operations and making sure everything we make is of the highest possible quality. I like to make sure the whole team is involved in every step and has a voice in the creative process as well as production. We’ve had some excellent gins come out of our collaborative creative process.
In what ways does Edinburgh Gin do things differently to others? We evolve constantly, none of our gins are exactly the same as they were five years ago. Gin is made with botanicals, and plants have seasonal variation so were always tinkering and adjusting to make sure our gins are the best they can be. We’re also based right in the city centre - it’s relatively straightforward to build a distillery in an industrial estate on the edge of town but we want to be Edinburgh’s Gin, so it’s important for us and we like to be where people can come and visit with ease. It’s certainly a challenge but that’s how we like it. Which is your Edinburgh Gin hero product? It is hard to pick just one of our core three gins, The Classic, Seaside, and Cannonball are all heroes in their own way. Seaside was a result of a collaborative project with a team of Heriot Watt University's Brewing & Distilling Masters students. We took them through the whole NPD process from concept to bottle. I’m really proud of this product and it's still my favourite of our range - complex savoury, umami, sweet. It makes a great Gibson, Gimlet or just a cracking G&T. What would you recommend for someone trying gin for the first time? A G&T with The Classic Edinburgh Gin. It’s a solid place to start and tells you what we’re all about. Our full-strength flavoured gins are also an excellent gateway into gin and have been responsible for bringing many of our customers into the category. Or pop into our Distillery Bar to see what the team have come up with. What are your favourite ways to drink your gins? I think the Martini and its many variations are probably my absolute favourites, at the moment I’d say a Gibson made with our Seaside Gin. I also love a Friday night Gin & Tonic or a Last Word if we’re going out somewhere special. What would be the perfect food pairings for your spirits? 'What grows together, goes together', so juniper-led spirits often work beautifully with game, venison, pigeon, partridge. But seafood is perfect with gin, and Scotland has some of the best in the world. Oysters are incredible with a Seaside Martini, or some fresh BBQ’d ‘langoustines with a Classic G&T. Our liqueurs make a lovely after dinner digestif especially with a bit of cheese or over some vanilla ice cream. Desert Island Gins: Which 3 gins would you take with you and why?
What trends are you seeing emerging in the gin industry and how are you responding?? In general we’re seeing some movement back towards more classic juniper-led flavour profiles after quite a few years of 'flavoured gin' domination. I think this can only really be a positive thing and probably is a result of people entering the category via flavoured gins and being converted to a more classic London Dry style over time. What's next for you and Edinburgh Gin - any exciting plans? Just really looking forward to getting started and working out how we replicate our existing gins on our new stills. Also looking forward to being able to welcome visitors again and showing people what we do at Edinburgh Gin. The next couple of years in our new home promise to be really exciting. You Might Also Like...
Comments are closed.
|