Rock Rose Gin - Meet the Makers

Meet the team and discover the stories behind Dunnet Bay Distillery in Scotland and Rock Rose Gin. We caught up with Founders, Martin & Claire Murray, to find out more including how it all started, how their gins are made, what exciting plans are lined up for the future, and what some of their favourite gins are.

What did you do before creating Rock Rose Gin and how did you set up Dunnet Bay Distillers?

• Martin: In my younger days, when I was at University, I wanted to do a master’s degree in brewing and distilling but there were no jobs at that time in that sector. So I decided to go with oil and gas instead and that’s where I worked for 11 years. However, my wife Claire and I had a young family and I wanted to move home in Caithness to be with the children and have a more normal routine. To do so, I decided to go back to what I was passionate about: making spirits.
  
  ​I started to study distillation at Heriot Watt and then we gave it a go! I was working offshore whilst we were trying to build the distillery business up slowly. I would work away for two weeks and then come home and work on this. With our complementary skills —my mind for equipment and chemical reactions, and Claire’s amazing ability to create unforgettable experiences — we knew we could create something special. That’s where Rock Rose Gin comes in. It worked really well – the gin took off and it surprised us how popular it was.

What made you decide to create Rock Rose Gin?

• Martin - I’ve always been passionate about brewing and distilling and even studied it at university! So it’s always something that’s been at the back of our minds, but the decision really came when we started to look at how we could spend more time together as a family. I had been working offshore in the gas and oil industry for a number of years and we have a young family, so something needed to change.
  
  
• Claire - The inspiration was really our unique environment in the Scottish Highlands. We are both from Caithness originally, which is in the far, far North of Scotland, and we are surrounded by an amazing abundance of botanicals, along with the freshest air and water, that we thought could work brilliantly in a spirit. Gin was a natural choice, as it’s long been my tipple of choice!

What are the distillery and distillation process like?

• Martin – Our distillery is located on the North Coast in our home village of Dunnet.  We have developed lovely gardens that provide botanicals for our seasonal editions and our garden editions. The distillery itself has been extended, so that we can keep up with demand and we’ll be moving into it in April. 
  
  We have a John Dore still and we use vapour infusion to create our wonderful gin. We also have a small electric hot still and a vacuum still for recipe development. We do all our bottling in-house and still hand wax and hand number all our bottles.
  
  
• Claire – We also run regular tours from Easter to October and we are in the process of building a dedicated shop and visitor centre.  It’s all go in Dunnet!

How would you describe Rock Rose Gin in 3 words?

• Martin – Refreshing, unique and moreish!
• Claire – Delicate, complex and moreish!

What makes Rock Rose Gin different to other gins?

• Martin: A number of things! As well as our unique mix of local botanicals, we also slowly distil the gin using a vapour infusion process at the distillery, which is pretty unique. We are also still very much a small-batch gin maker – as well as hand-distilling, each bottle is filled, hand-waxed, batch-numbered and signed before it leaves our distillery.
  
  Our opaque ceramic bottles also have quite the cult-following now and have great stand-out on shelf. We are also the first distillery in the UK to have recently launched recyclable refill gin pouches across our full portfolio of spirits that can be returned to the distillery for recycling via Royal Mail freepost and a new Refill Rewards Club’, a monthly subscription service of spirit pouches. We are proud to have received a plethora of awards over the last few years including the prestigious Scottish Gin Distillery of the Year at the Scottish Gin Awards 2019!

What have been the biggest achievements and challenges so far (or your favourite story so far)

• Martin: I was delighted to win the award for Director of the Year at the Institute of Directors Scotland Awards.  To be the first UK distillery doing a freepost, return fully recyclable refill pouch was quite something and I am immensely proud that we did that.
• Claire:  We were delighted to win Scottish Gin Distillery of the Year and Best Distilled Gin at the Scottish Gin Awards in 2019.  Scotland has so many wonderful gins and gin distilleries, and it was a testament to our team that we won both awards.​

What is your recommended serving & garnish for Rock Rose Gin?

• Claire - We recommend it’s served with Fever-Tree Tonic and a sprig of toasted rosemary or a curl of orange peel.What are your favourite gins (other than your own of course!)?
• Martin – There are some great gins in the UK, with more appearing each month, but I do like Filliers Dry Gin from Belgium. I do like the flavour profile of Daffy's Gin and Porters Gin too.

What's next for Dunnet Bay Distillery & Rock Rose Gin?

• Martin - It’s really exciting times. We have recently taken ownership of Castletown Mill, a beautiful but dilapidated former mill opposite the Castletown beach, we plan to conserve and repair. The aim is to create "further resources" for our expanding business. The distillery products sell strongly across Scotland and the rest of the UK and are also being exported to around 24 countries across the world. Watch this space for our next adventure at Castletown Mill!

Read More
​Gin Blogs

Join The Gin
​Newsletter

Read More
​Gin Reviews