So, I’m very keen to maintain work life balance as much as humanly possible and I’m always on the lookout for interesting things to do both inside and outside the city. At the beginning of February I was lucky enough to win myself and my gin loving buddy a couple of tickets to GIN:NE in Inverurie. This was the second year for GIN:NE, a gin festival celebrating local spirits, bitters, shrubs and beer just 20 minutes by train from Aberdeen. With our tickets we got a festival brochure, a tote bag and 10 tokens that allowed us to get 10 gin tasters. In addition, you could pay extra for a full measured drink, buy products from the distributors and also pay to go to a masterclass, where as far as I know different gin cocktails were trialled and most importantly tasted.
I obviously had a whale of a time! I learned loads about gin and I even got inspired about my own work because the passion the distillers had was infectious. Once I move to a place, I love exploring what the local area has to offer and what makes it special and in turn I love sharing that with other people. So, with that being said, here are my top 5 Aberdeenshire discoveries from GIN:NE.
- Granite North – This gin was hands down my favourite and I deeply regret not buying a bottle on the day. Granite North is distilled in small batches just a couple of miles outside of the city centre near Bucksburn. I’m a sucker for things being local and this is about as local as it gets, the name alone conjures up images of all the buildings in the granite city. Beyond the name, the gin tastes like Scotland! The tasting notes talk of grand fir needles, heather and thistle and that’s no lie. All of these are botanicals found abundantly in this area and from the first taste I was taken away on a winter walk in the fresh Cairngorms air. Super cheesy, but honestly, it’s one of the most original gins I’ve tasted. It’s good enough to drink on its own but the distributor suggested a light tonic with a wee slice of grapefruit.
- Blackford Craft Distillery Ltd – So, full disclosure, I didn’t actually try their gin! But my friend did and she seemed very happy. What I was there for was their Vesperis heather honey vodka. This is Blackford Craft’s pictish botanical vodka with raw heather honey added into the still during the distillation process. Funnily enough the honey’s provided by my supervisor, but I promise that didn’t influence my judgment! I don’t normally like vodka, it’s probably the last drink I’d choose in a bar, but this was something else. It was sweet and smooth enough to drink neat, especially as a dessert drink with some ice. But I imagine it would also work beautifully with ginger ale and a squeeze of lime like the distillers suggested. As Scotland’s only heather honey vodka it’s made about 20 miles North of here in rural Aberdeenshire where they’re very clearly influenced by the pictish heritage.
- Hrafn gin – If somebody has a good story I’m easily sold and Hrafn gin has more than just a story they have a mythology. In short, Hrafn is old norse for raven and ravens were important to the Norse, they stood on Odin’s shoulder symbolising power to see into the future and also in welcoming warriors into Valhalla. More so than that though, the two brothers who distil the gin came up with their idea whilst in a campervan outside the Bruichladdich distillery on Islay. I love Islay, I love Bruichladdich and I love campervanning so as soon as they told me that I was emotionally invested! Their main gin was, and I think still is ‘thought and memory’ which is a soft, dry, warm, spicy, mandarin infused explosion of flavour. They have a tonne of cocktail ideas on their website but for an easy drink suggest a classic light tonic and a slice of lemon. Like Granite North they’re located just outside the city, but this time to the West in Kingswells.
- Lost Loch spirits – I’m not sure whether these guys are most well known for their gin or their absinthe, which incidentally is the first one in Scotland. This distillery is based on the banks of Loch Auchlossan on the edge of the Cairngorms national park and if that doesn’t evoke some romantic imagery for you then I don’t know what will! Eenoo is the lost Loch spirits gin which is named after an inuit who arrived in Aberdeen on a whaling ship in the mid 1800s to learn about Western ways before leaving to embark on more adventures around the North. The most notable thing about this gin are its liquorice flavours which, even in a room full of gin, make it really stand out. The distillery suggests a light tonic and strawberries for something summery which is something I’m definitely going to try when the season rolls around. What stole the lost Loch spirits show for me though was their Murmichan absinthe. Now, as a former goth I’ve drunk a fair bit of absinthe in my time. I went all out with my image, which included drinking absinthe with the accompaniment of a proper absinthe spoon which I would melt sugar on before stirring it into my drink. None of that is necessary with Murmichan! I honestly don’t remember ever tasting an absinthe that was so smooth. Murmichan is, for a drink that’s 64% ABV, very easy drinking. Dangerously easy drinking!
- Udny Provender – Last but certainly not least is this small, non-alcoholic, family run business based in Methlick near Ellon. These guys have a load of their own honey bee hives and live something resembling the good life, which I find crazy appealing. They sell local honey (from their own bees of course) plus vinegars and shrubs. I’d never heard of shrubs before meeting Udny Provender but now I’ve tried them I am sold. Shrubs are a fruity, vinegar cordial that can be added to pretty much any drink. The vinegar word can be difficult for people to get their heads around but trust me it’s absolutely nothing like what you put on your chips. Personally, I’ve only used them in prosecco and as an addition to a gin and tonic but I know you can get super cocktail creative with them. They’re also a great non-alcoholic alternative when added to something like lemonade or sparkling water. There are about 8 different flavours like crab apple, gooseberry and elderflower and blueberry and lavender which are mostly locally foraged.
As this is only their second year of running I’m not sure if they’re planning to continue with it as a yearly event, but I certainly hope so. GIN:NE was the perfect de-stressor after a week of work and I really valued meeting local distributors, hearing their stories and obviously trying their products. I’m already on the look out for my next event and would thoroughly recommend getting yourself to a local food festival.
If gin really is your thing and you’re super interested, then there is a university society that visits different distilleries and gets together to try different gins. Obviously! You can find them on facebook under the name ‘University of Aberdeen: Students’ Ruin’, which leads me nicely into the reminder…please drink responsibly.
In A Kingdom By The Sea 