Friday, May 09, 2014

Tonic for Unst as gin production set to start

Tonic for Unst as gin production set to start

(See full story and Smirk cartoon in this week's Shetland Times; available for Pagesuite PDF download here (£1): http://www.shetlandtimes.co.uk/ )


Britain’s most northerly gin distillery is set to begin operations in Unst next month. And it will have a true Shetland flavour, with botanicals such as juniper sourced in the isles.

The Shetland Distillery Company, headed up by Scotch Whisky industry veteran Stuart Nickerson, applied for planning permission last year for a boutique whisky distillery in one of the disused RAF buildings at Saxa Vord.

Whisky production is still Mr Nickerson’s intention, but any spirit produced in Scotland has to be aged for a minimum of three years before it can legally be sold as whisky. Gin, on the other hand, does not require ageing.

“I can confirm that we have ordered a gin still and that it will be installed at Saxa Vord in June,” Mr Nickerson said. “At the moment we are still finalising the secret recipe but our plans are to include at least some botanicals from Shetland, and preferably from Unst, in the first few batches.

“Eventually, we hope to source all the botanicals from Shetland. With the use of polytunnels you can grow most things.”

Mr Nickerson added that though no official name for the gin was being released, “we do have something in mind.”

This is not the first ‘Shetland gin’, and neither is it the first to be associated with a planned whisky distillery. It will, however, be the first spirit legally distilled in the isles. The controversial company Blackwood’s, under the management of Caroline Whitfield, first announced plans for a whisky distillery at Catfirth in 2002, and later transferred attentions to Unst. It produced Blackwood’s Dry Gin, distilled on the Scottish mainland but with botanicals allegedly harvested in Shetland.

The company went into administration in 2008 but, under new ownership, continues to make and market two varieties of ‘Shetland’ gin, as well as ‘Premium Nordic Vodka’ and Jago’s Vanilla Cream Liqueur, all manufactured on mainland Scotland.

Mr Nickerson is in partnership with Frank Strang, owner of the Saxa Vord site. In an article for Shetland Life last year, he said he was enthusiastic about Shetland as a site for a distillery, “because it is the last remaining part of Scotland that doesn’t have one. And it is the most northerly - it’s got a fantastic USP. And once you get to Shetland - I’ve lived in Orkney, I’ve lived all over the mainland - but Shetland has something unique, definitely.”


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