Lucky White Heather Gin Club

With a heavy heart we are saying goodbye to Lucky White Heather Club for the time being. It was so incredible to have these monthly tastings with wonderful guests and attendees throughout lockdown and we are extremely grateful for all your support.

It's not goodbye forever, but unfortunately our small team does not have the capacity at the moment alongside our in person events. We'd love if you would follow us at Summerhall Drinks Lab to keep up to date with all the exciting things we are up to!

All the best,

Team Lucky White Heather

Did you know that we often make our own mixers and cocktails for our subscription boxes?

This delicious Gooseberry & Orange Blossom Honey Soda was handmade and labeled by Jamie in our Summerhall Drinks Lab. 🍯

We think it makes the tasting experience a little more special, don't you?

Sign up now for this month's box:

https://buff.ly/3apP6PG

Happy International Scottish Gin Day! 🙌

At Lucky White Heather, we're all about celebrating the amazing gins created in this beautiful country we call home. Scotland has such a rich history surrounding gin and we are loving seeing all the new distilleries that have added to this over the last few years.

This picture is from our August subscription box, we have some exciting things to announce for this month's tasting soon 🤐 .

https://buff.ly/3apP6PG

Have you had a look at the finalists for this year's Scottish Gin Awards?

It's fantastic to see so many of the wonderful brands we've featured in our Lucky White Heather subscription boxes!

1881 Distillery & School
Arbikie Distillery
Badachro Distillery
Farmhouse Gin
Fidra Gin
Glaswegin
Inspirited Dry Gin
King's Hill Gin
Mackintosh Gin
Pixel Spirits
Roehill Springs
South Loch Gin
Tayport Distillery
Tyree Gin

Good Luck to all involved!

https://www.scottishginawards.co.uk/sga/news/article-title-17

Finalists Announced In 5th Annual Scottish Gin Awards | KD Media The finalists in the 5th annual Scottish Gin Awards have been announced with 67 producers and 223 gins, all distilled in Scotland progressing to the…

The lovely Dominic tried our gin tasting box and had this to say. Thank you for your kind words and hopefully see you at some tastings in the future!

Key Botanical // Orkney Gin Company - Aatta Gin

The full recipe of this brand new gin is currently a secret (that will be revealed during our virtual tasting tonight) as it is not yet on sale to the public. However, we know that they use locally foraged wild rosehips as their key botanical. Rosehips are the fruit of the Rose plant, forming after the pollination of the flower and ripening in late summer. They can be found throughout the UK and add a subtle sweet and floral flavour with a distinct tart aftertaste.

Key Botanical // Darnley's Gin x Lucky White Heather Club - Eddie's Gin

Wood Sorrel is a small green leafed plant that grows in woodlands all across the UK. It has a delicate citrus taste to it that has been likened to a cross between lemon and apple peel. This fresh taste is the first note to hit your tongue in our very own Eddie's gin, pairing nicely with the orange peel and followed by a floral finish coming from our other botanicals of lavender, rosehip & elderberry.

Key Botanical // - Crofter's Tears

The key botanical is a local ingredient, purple heather tips picked from our very doorstep. These only bloom in July and August and are carefully handpicked by ourselves and blended with juniper and a range of botanicals including cassia bark and cubeb to give a wonderfully deep traditional gin. The bottle mirrors the ingredients with purple heather flowers embossed around the bottom of the bottle and depicting a majestic Highland stag on the bottleneck.

Key Botanical // Inspirited Dry Gin - Bergamot Orange & Golden Kiwi Gin

Bergamot Orange is a fragrant citrus fruit cultivated chiefly in Italy. You may have heard of it in association with Earl Grey Tea as it's the ingredient that gives it that distinct and well loved flavour. When used as a botanical for gin it gives a zesty orange taste that lingers on the palette.

Inspirited have paired it with a combination of sweet orange, seville orange, golden kiwi, coconut and lemon peel to create a delightfully refreshing gin.

Who's excited for this month's Lucky White Heather tasting on Thursday?

This incredible photo was taken by Dominic who tried one of our boxes last month, and we absolutely love it! It features the gins & cocktails from a previous month so you can expect something a little different this time round. Still using our own cocktail creations, fresh local ingredients and the some of the best gins Scotland has to offer!

There's still time to sign up for your box through the link below:

https://buff.ly/3apP6PG

The second gin to be featured in this month's tasting will be Crofter's Tears from the incredible .

Crofter's Tears is distilled by a family of Highland Crofters in Caithness who use locally foraged and home-grown ingredients to create artisanal spirits. The main botanical is wild Highland Heather collected on their doorstep and blended with fresh lime peel and orange peel to create a beautifully smooth finish.

To learn more about this truly unique distillery and their fascinating story, make sure to sign up for our virtual tasting on Thursday 26th August:

https://buff.ly/3apP6PG

Introducing the first gin that will be featured in our August subscription box - 's brilliant Bergamot Orange and Golden Kiwi gin.

Inspirited are a gin brand based in South Lanarkshire where they distill not only their own gins, but also offer the opportunity for anyone to have a go and create a unique gin of their own. Their Bergamot Orange and Golden Kiwi gin uses three different oranges, sweet orange, Seville orange and bergamot orange to ensure a bold and complex flavour. This is then coupled with the sweetness of golden kiwi, coconut and lemon peel to create a refreshing summer spirit.

You'll hear more about this fantastic brand and get to sample their gin at our next virtual tasting on Thursday 26th August. Sign up at the link below:

https://buff.ly/3apP6PG

Hello!

My name is Eilidh, I’ve taken over the running of the social media at Lucky White Heather to allow Jamie to focus on creating our fantastic gin subscription boxes.

I’ve been working in the hospitality and events industry since I was 16 and I love the opportunity it provides to meet wonderful people from Scotland and across the world.

I’m passionate about supporting small businesses and local brands and you can often find me with a drink in hand at one of Edinburgh’s fantastic gin bars.

You’ll be seeing a lot of me at upcoming tastings and providing some behind the scenes action through our stories. I look forward to seeing you around!

Trying new and exciting gins, mixers and cocktails from home? That's what we're all about! Some lovely feedback from one of our subscribers.

Sign up for this months tasting through the link below:
https://buff.ly/3apP6PG

Do you remember our Pineapple, Ginger & Meadowsweet Fizz from July's tasting? We've put together the recipe so you can make it at home! This drink is fruity and tropical, with floral and earthy meadowsweet and just a wee bit of heat from the ginger (feel free to up this if you like the spiciness!).

Ingredients:
20ml 100% Pineapple juice
10ml Freshly juiced ginger
15ml Meadowsweet syrup*
20ml Lemon juice

*Foraged from the banks of the Union Canal, Edinburgh, and can be found along riverbanks and hedgerows across the country. Pick the flowers and give them a shake to get rid of any bugs (unless you want extra protein!) add 1 part sugar to 1 part boiling water then let the leaves steep for 20-30 minutes. Strain out the leaves and pass through a coffee filter to create a clear honey like syrup. Interestingly, meadowsweet derives its name not from meadow, but from mead as it was often used in brewing.

Today we stopped by the Darnley's Gin pop up on Castle Street to try out their gin experience. We had an absolutely fantastic time creating our very own Lucky White Heather gin that will be featured in this month's tasting alongside a video of the experience made in collaboration with the Darnley's team.

Be sure to check them out if you're in town!

https://buff.ly/3fUqiRZ

Some lovely feedback from - thank you! So happy to hear you enjoyed combining the different gins, mixers and garnishes.

This month we are switching things up a little. Since we all now have our weekends back, and might want to spend them out and about at some wonderful local bars, we've decided to hold our next virtual tasting on a Thursday instead. This month we'll see you on Thursday 26th August, pop it in your diaries!

As promised, we're sharing our amazing cocktail recipe's with you! First up is our Gooseberry & Orange Blossom Honey Soda featured in July's tasting. We think it pairs particularly well with the Tayport Wild Rose or Tipple Gin. Refreshing and summery, we pair in season zingy gooseberries with floral honey and bubbles - upgrade this by adding Prosecco instead!

Ingredients:
20ml Gooseberry syrup*
15ml Orange blossom honey
25ml Lemon juice
Top with sparkling water

*Cooked down hand picked gooseberries from with water and a little sugar until pulpy. Strain if you don't like bits! Alternatively you can replace this with gooseberry jam.

Thank you to Hayley for her kind words about our tasting. We couldn't agree more about the distillers, we love getting an insight into how they create the delicious gins we feature.

A huge thanks to everyone who joined in on our virtual tasting on Saturday. It was a fantastic evening! A special shoutout to our featured gins:

Isle of Raasay Distillery - Isle of Raasay Gin
Tipple Gin - Tipple Gin
Gaelic Whiskies & Gaelic Gins - Uisge Lusach Steall (Gaelic Sweet Gin)
Tayport Distillery - Wild Rose Gin

We'll be posting the recipes for some of our unique mixers and cocktails soon!

DISTILLERY // Tipple Gin

"Our gin is made at the award-winning Lost Loch Distillery out at Dess in Aboyne, Aberdeenshire. We have been working closely with Peter Dignan and Richard Pierce over the last two & a half years. Our gin is distilled in a 500 litre iStill - which doesn't have a nickname yet, as far as we're aware.
As we were novices when we started out, we were told we put FAR too many berries and botanicals into our run during the R&D sessions, which was leading to louching*, which almost drove us both insane until we figured it out.

*louching - the result of too much essential oil from the botanicals, leading to cloudiness in the final product."

DISTILLERY // Gaelic Whiskies & Gaelic Gins

"Our distillery is tucked away amongst the historic buildings of Eilean Iarmain in the south of the Isle of Skye. Eilean Iarmain, once the busiest port on the island, is now a tranquil haven with spectacular views across the water to the lighthouse of Isle Ornsay (featured on our label) and beyond to the hills of Knoydart. The small yard where the Gaelic Gin shed now stands was once a cooperage, which served to supply small wooden barrels to the herring industry.

The founder of our whisky company, Sir Iain Noble, acquired what is rumoured to be an illicit whisky still at some point in the late 1970s (one of our whiskies is called Poit Dhubh, or Illicit Still). The traditional copper still has its cooling worm housed in an old whisky cask, and is small enough to be transported on the back of a horse – a vital necessity in past times to evade the excise men (we haven’t had to test this out…yet!) With the addition in 2017 of a botanical infusing basket half way along the lyne arm and heating elements to replace the open fires of old, the illicit whisky still is now perfectly at home distilling Gaelic Gin.

Uisge Lusach – pronounced oosh-ga loose-ach (emphasis on the first syllable of each word). Translates to herbaceous water or spirit."

DISTILLERY //

"Tayport Distillery’s Wild Rose Gin is made in Tayport, Fife, on the outskirts of Tentsmuir Forest. We initially created the recipe on a much smaller still for experimenting purposes but due to its popularity we now create it on our larger still. Now the Wild Rose Gin is made on our 500L still which we have named Mamo, the Gaelic word for Grandmother, in memory of the children’s grandmother. She is an iStill and during the distillation process we macerate and use vapour infusion to give the gin its particular flavour.
Kecia McDougall is the distiller responsible for creating our award-winning Wild Rose Gin, however a notable mention goes to Alasdair, her son, who she has now trained and is creating his own award winning gins."

Continuing our face behind the gin series, we spoke with Leah Dunlop - Head Distiller at Gaelic Whiskies & Gaelic Gins

1. How did you get involved in gin?
I’d worked in hospitality for some years, and after moving back to Skye got a job in a hotel with a whisky company attached. I heard rumours that gin was in the offing, but they had nobody to do the actual making. Eventually I plucked up the courage to bring in a small alcoholic CV of gin liqueurs I’d been making at home which the owner of the company tasted one Sunday morning, and the rest is history.

2. What’s your favourite part of the gin making process?
We’re a small company, so I do pretty much everything – distilling, bottling, labelling, gardening, experimenting – and I really like the variety: no two days are the same. Probably my favourite moment on distilling days is when the first drops of gin trickle out of the cooling worm and scent fills the gin shed.

3. What’s your favourite gin experience to date?
Working here I’ve met some really interesting people, including other makers who I’ve swapped bottles with – it’s always good to add another unusual bottle to the collection.

4. What’s your favourite gin cocktail?
I love a well spiced red snapper, but on a hot day there’s nothing better than a gin mojito.

5. What music/podcasts/audiobooks do you listen to at work? Feel free to be as embarrassing as you like!
Recently I’ve had Deirdre Graham’s album, Urranta, playing – beautiful melodies, and appropriate for a Gaelic speaking company! Podcast wise, it depends on the mood, but I’m partial to No Such Thing As A Fish, Trashy Divorces and The Guilty Feminist.

FACES BEHIND THE GIN // Neil Thomson & Laura Punzano //

1. How did you get involved in gin?

Over a glass or two of gin one winters' evening back in November 2018, Laura and I started to discuss making our own gin and we found there to be a potential gap in the market with there being London Dry Gins and really sweet gins, however nothing in between.

2. What’s your favourite part of the gin making process?

Neil: Really enjoy it when our gin starts to run off the still and getting to experience the smell and flavours for the first time. It's the anticipation of what it will taste like!
Laura: I love experimenting with new recipes, flavours and putting them together. The foodie in me loves this creative element of making gin and we have experimented with a few unusual concoctions.

3. What’s your favourite gin experience to date?

Neil: Attending a gin tasting at the Tippling House in Aberdeen - was a really informative and enjoyable night.
Laura: Meeting up with Martin and Natalie Reid from The Gin Cooperative. Chewing the fat over all things gin in their lovely back garden.....was a great afternoon, which I'll never forget. We ended up back home to discover our 6-month old son had dropped their daughter's beloved teddy Fluffy into our bag and had to explain......embarrassing.

4. What’s your favourite gin cocktail?

Neil: London Calling Spritz - the PERFECT complimentary cocktail for our gin.
Laura: Raspberry Clover Club - frothy, pretty and brings out the delicious raspberry element of our gin.

5. What music/podcasts/audiobooks do you listen to while you work?

Neil: Absolute 80s, Country & Western, 60's and I'm not even embarrassed to admit I love a bit of Status Quo (grew up listening to them as a child).
Laura: A real eclectic mix from Fleetwood Mac to dance music. I love music, it helps me relax and l listen to it all the time as I'm working on the gin. I'd say Gerry Cinnamon, 90's indie & 80's pop were key during the development of Tipple Gin.

Each month we feature the faces behind the gins included in our subscription box. This interview is with Kecia McDougall from Tayport Distillery, pictured with son Alasdair and daughter Mary who work alongside her.

1. How did you get involved in gin?

My passion started in 2015 when I began experimenting with gin on small stills, creating lots of weird and wonderful recipes. However, gin was not the first product we launched. We started with a spirit that was completely Scottish, an Eau de Vie which is a fruit spirit made from Scottish fruit and grain.
It was through years of experimenting and developing our Eau de Vie that our knowledge around the drinks industry grew. We began to experiment with different spirit bases and botanicals taking on board customer feedback which led us to develop a gin.

2. What’s your favourite part of the gin making process?

The experimentation, I could spend months working with lots of weird and wonderful botanicals and creating new recipes. The flavour of a botanical after distillation does not always taste like what you would expect. It takes time to learn how the flavours will combine together whether they are spicy, floral, sweet or fruity. We developed a gin blending masterclass which is a fascinating process for consumers to understand how individual distillates taste without juniper. It gives a really brilliant insight into flavour profiles and understanding the balance between botanicals.

3. What’s your favourite gin experience to date?

For me, it has been attending the Craft Distilling Expo which is normally held in London but was virtual this year due to COVID. The Expo is not strictly about Gin which I think is important as many of the processes being used in other spirits can cross over to formulate new recipes in the Gin World. In Craft Distilling, there are no hard and fast rules and it is more about being creative. That’s why I enjoy the Expo so much, you have speakers from all over the world sharing the processes and it is a great community for learning.

4. What’s your favourite gin cocktail?

Mary, my daughter, makes this really delicious Lemon and Cardamom Gimlet with the Wild Rose which we now use as our signature cocktail. It is such an easy cocktail to make once you have the simple syrup, and really plays to the strengths of our Wild Rose Gin.

5. What music/podcasts/audiobooks do you listen to at work? Feel free to be as embarrassing as you like!

Well this list could go on for awhile. I have just taken to listening to podcasts while walking the dog and I love it! There are, of course, distilling podcasts but I won’t go there. Being from America, during the pandemic I found a lot of comfort in listening to ‘From My Home to Yours’ by Bruce Springsteen. I got a lot of stick from my friends in Ohio when I posted this on my social media though - they said ‘Kecia you never listened to Bruce when you were here, it was all Whitney Houston and Madonna’. I explained that was because I could dance to Whitney and Madonna then, but can only manage to keep up with a Bruce Springsteen song now.

The final gin included in this months subscription box is the brand new Tipple Gin.

Tipple has just launched with the first batch bottled on the 9th of July. It's distilled in Aberdeen using traditional juniper, wild berries, fresh rosemary and locally sourced honey. This gives the spirit a lovely balance between a classic dry gin with a natural hint of sweetness and a fresh, clean finish.

Don't miss out on trying this fantastic new gin! There's still time to sign up for your tasting box through the link below to join in on the fun on 31st July.

https://buff.ly/3apP6PG

The lovely Isle of Raasay Hebridean Gin is the 3rd gin featured in this month's subscription box.

Distilled and bottled on Raasay itself, this gin is the first to be produced legally on an island with an interesting history of illicit distilling. The inclusion of juniper, sweet orange peel & lemon peel, alongside other key botanicals, has created a refreshingly dry, zesty and smooth gin.

To join us for our virtual tasting on 31st July, purchase your box through the link below.

https://buff.ly/3apP6PG