Distilleries
The distilleries
56 places with a still house at a real address in Scotland. Brands distilled elsewhere under contract are not listed here — not as a judgement, but because we can’t verify who distils what for whom, and a directory is only worth having if its facts hold.
Highlands
Long roads, big weather and distilleries that are often the only building in sight.
Dunnet Bay Distillers
Dunnet, Caithness
A family distillery on the north coast, a couple of miles from Dunnet Head — the most northerly point on the British mainland. Rock Rose takes its name from the rhodiola rosea that grows on the cliffs there.
Rock Rose Gin, Rock Rose Navy StrengthBadachro Distillery
Badachro, Wester Ross
A very small distillery on the shore of Loch Gairloch, in a village most people reach by accident on the way round the coast. Botanicals come off the hill and the shoreline behind it.
Badachro GinLoch Ness Spirits
Dores, Loch Ness
A family distillery on the quiet side of Loch Ness, at Dores, using botanicals grown and gathered around the loch shore.
Loch Ness GinInshriach Distillery
Aviemore, Cairngorms
A distillery on an estate in the Cairngorms, built around what grows on the ground it sits on — rosehips, birch, Douglas fir.
Inshriach GinGlenWyvis Distillery
Dingwall, Ross-shire
Community-owned, on a hillside above Dingwall, and run on its own renewable power. It is one of the few distilleries in Scotland whose shareholders are mostly local people.
GoodWill GinDornoch Distillery
Dornoch, Sutherland
Started in the old fire station of Dornoch Castle Hotel by two brothers with strong opinions about old-fashioned production methods, and now considerably better known than its size suggests.
Thompson Bros Organic Highland GinPixel Spirits
Ballachulish, Lochaber
A small distillery beside Loch Leven at Ballachulish, in the shadow of the Glencoe hills. The gin is named after the hill path above it.
Devil's Staircase GinKinrara Distillery
Aviemore, Cairngorms
On the Kinrara estate in the Cairngorms National Park, working with heather, berries and flora from the ground around it.
Kinrara Highland Dry GinNorth Point Distillery
Forss, Caithness
On the far north coast between Thurso and Reay, working with hand-harvested seaweed and coastal plants and run on renewable power.
North Point GinIslands
Islay, Harris, Jura, Skye, Mull, Orkney, Shetland and the Uists — island gin made on the island.
Bruichladdich Distillery
Bruichladdich, Islay
The Islay malt distillery on the shore of Loch Indaal. The Botanist, launched in 2011, is distilled there in a converted Lomond still and is built on botanicals foraged on Islay itself.
The Botanist Islay Dry GinIsle of Harris Distillery
Tarbert, Isle of Harris
Built at Tarbert as a social enterprise — the point of it was jobs on Harris as much as spirit. The gin uses sugar kelp hand-cut by a local diver from the sea lochs around the island.
Isle of Harris GinNorth Uist Distillery
North Uist, Outer Hebrides
A small Hebridean distillery on North Uist, founded by two islanders. Downpour is named for what the weather does there, which is fair.
Downpour GinLussa Gin
Ardlussa, Isle of Jura
At the far north end of Jura, up a single-track road past the Corryvreckan, three women grow and gather every botanical that goes into the gin on the island itself.
Lussa GinTobermory Distillery
Tobermory, Isle of Mull
On the waterfront at Tobermory, behind the painted houses. One of the oldest commercial distilleries in Scotland, and now making gin as well as malt.
Tobermory Hebridean GinDeerness Distillery
Newark, Orkney
A family distillery on the east mainland of Orkney, a few fields from the sea. Sea Glass is named after what washes up on the beach below.
Sea Glass Gin, Into The Wild GinOrkney Distilling
Kirkwall, Orkney
On the Ayre Road at Kirkwall harbour, with a visitor centre looking out over the water. Kirkjuvagr is the old Norse name for Kirkwall.
Kirkjuvagr Orkney GinShetland Reel
Unst, Shetland
The most northerly distillery in the British Isles, on Unst, in buildings that were once part of the RAF Saxa Vord base.
Shetland Reel Original GinIsle of Skye Distillers
Portree, Isle of Skye
A family distillery in Portree, run by two brothers. Misty Isle is the island’s own nickname — An t-Eilean Sgitheanach.
Misty Isle Gin, Tommy's GinIsle of Raasay Distillery
Isle of Raasay
Raasay’s first legal distillery, on a small island off Skye with a population in the low hundreds, with rooms above it looking across the Sound.
Isle of Raasay GinSpeyside & Moray
The densest concentration of stills in the world, and some of them are making gin.
Balmenach Distillery
Cromdale, Speyside
A Speyside malt distillery dating to the nineteenth century, where Caorunn is made in a copper berry chamber rather than a conventional still basket. The name is Gaelic for rowan.
Caorunn GinBenromach Distillery
Forres, Moray
A Speyside malt distillery at Forres. Red Door is made there in its own still, named after the door on the distillery front.
Red Door GinMoray Distillery
Elgin, Moray
A small distillery in Elgin, in the middle of Speyside, making its gin from local water.
Avva Scottish GinGlenrinnes Distillery
Dufftown, Moray
On an organic estate below Ben Rinnes at Dufftown, using water from the hill and produce from the estate. The name refers to the eight parcels of land the estate is made of.
Eight Lands GinAberdeenshire & the North East
Royal Deeside, the Aberdeenshire farmland and the granite city itself.
Lost Loch Distillery
Aboyne, Aberdeenshire
A small Royal Deeside distillery at Aboyne, named for a loch that was drained in the nineteenth century, working with foraged Deeside botanicals.
Eenoo GinHouse of Elrick
Newmachar, Aberdeenshire
On a Georgian estate at Newmachar, using water from the loch on the grounds.
House of Elrick GinLoneWolf Spirits
Ellon, Aberdeenshire
BrewDog’s distillery at Ellon, which makes its own neutral spirit from grain on site rather than buying it in — unusual at that scale.
LoneWolf GinEsker Spirits
Kincardine Estate, Royal Deeside
On the Kincardine estate in Royal Deeside, using sap tapped from Scots pine on the estate as a botanical — a genuinely unusual thing to put in a gin.
Esker GinTwin River Distillery
Banchory, Aberdeenshire
A small Deeside distillery at Banchory, where the Feugh meets the Dee.
Twin River Dee GinAngus, Dundee & Perthshire
Farm distilleries on the Angus coast, and the glens running north from Perth.
Arbikie Highland Estate
Inverkeilor, Angus
A farm distillery above Lunan Bay run by three brothers whose family has farmed the ground for generations. It is field-to-bottle in the literal sense: the base spirit is made from crops grown on the farm.
Kirsty's Gin, AK's GinVerdant Spirits
Dundee
The first distillery licensed in Dundee in well over a century, in a warehouse off the Blackscroft. The name comes from the Verdant Works, the jute mill up the road.
Verdant GinPersie Distillery
Glenshee, Perthshire
In a former hotel at the foot of Glenshee, on the road north over the Cairnwell to Braemar.
Persie Zesty Citrus Gin, Persie Sweet & Nutty Old TomStrathearn Distillery
Methven, Perthshire
A small Perthshire distillery at Methven, west of Perth, making both whisky and gin.
Strathearn Classic Gin, Heather Rose GinBadvo Distillery
Pitlochry, Perthshire
A very small distillery on a hill farm above Pitlochry, run by a young distiller on her family’s land, with botanicals from the farm.
Badvo GinFife
The East Neuk, St Andrews — and the single site that makes more gin than anywhere in the world.
Eden Mill
St Andrews, Fife
On the Eden estuary outside St Andrews, on the site of an old brewery and paper mill. One of the earlier names in the modern Scottish gin run.
Eden Mill Original Gin, Eden Mill Love GinKingsbarns Distillery
Kingsbarns, Fife
In a converted farm steading in the East Neuk, where Darnley’s is distilled in its own gin still alongside the Lowland malt.
Darnley's Original Gin, Darnley's Spiced GinCameronbridge Distillery
Windygates, Fife
The quiet giant of Scottish gin. Gordon’s and Tanqueray are both distilled at this Fife site, the largest grain distillery in Europe, on two of the biggest gin stills in the world. Tanqueray is made nowhere else. It is an industrial plant, not a visitor attraction — but the two best-selling gins on earth are Fife gins.
Gordon's, TanquerayEdinburgh & the Lothians
Leith, Summerhall, the Arches — the densest urban gin scene in the country.
Edinburgh Gin Distillery
Edinburgh
Now housed in restored Victorian railway arches near Waverley, with a distillery, bar and tours under the one roof. One of the names that started the modern Scottish gin run.
Edinburgh Gin, Edinburgh Gin SeasideSummerhall Distillery
Summerhall, Edinburgh
In the old Royal (Dick) Veterinary School at Summerhall — the first exclusively gin distillery in Edinburgh for a very long time, working from a recipe written out in Bombay in 1947.
Pickering's Gin, Pickering's Navy StrengthPort of Leith Distillery
Leith, Edinburgh
The vertical distillery on the Leith shore. Lind & Lime is named for James Lind, the Edinburgh naval surgeon whose 1747 trial established that citrus prevented scurvy.
Lind & Lime GinElectric Spirit Co
Leith, Edinburgh
A small independent distillery in Leith with a deliberately unconventional botanical bill — fennel and Szechuan pepper among them.
Achroous GinHolyrood Distillery
Edinburgh
In a restored 1830s railway goods shed under Salisbury Crags, the first single malt distillery in central Edinburgh in nearly a century, making gin alongside the whisky.
Height of Arrows GinNB Distillery
North Berwick, East Lothian
A husband-and-wife distillery in East Lothian, working a small copper pot still by hand rather than to a computer.
NB GinFidra Gin
East Lothian
Named for the island off the East Lothian coast that is said to have given Robert Louis Stevenson the shape of Treasure Island.
Fidra GinLinlithgow Distillery
Linlithgow, West Lothian
A family distillery in Linlithgow, in the town that grew up around the palace. It trades as Linlithgow Distillery now; the gin is still LinGin.
LinGinGlasgow, Argyll & the West
Glasgow’s distilleries, the Kintyre peninsula, Ayrshire and the Trossachs.
The Glasgow Distillery Company
Hillington, Glasgow
The first new distillery in Glasgow in more than a century. Makar was its first product and takes its name from the Scots word for a poet.
Makar Glasgow Gin, Makar Old TomCrossbill Distillery
Glasgow
Built on one idea taken seriously: a gin made from Scottish juniper and Scottish rosehips and nothing else. Named for the bird that lives in the Caledonian pine forest.
Crossbill GinWee Farm Distillery
Lesmahagow, South Lanarkshire
A working farm distillery in South Lanarkshire, run by a farmer and a vet, with the still in a converted farm building.
Drover's GinGirvan Distillery
Girvan, Ayrshire
Hendrick’s is distilled at William Grant & Sons’ Girvan site on the Ayrshire coast, in a pair of unusual stills — a Carter-Head and a Bennett. The cucumber and rose are added after distillation, not with the botanicals.
Hendrick's GinBeinn an Tuirc Distillers
Torrisdale, Kintyre
On the Torrisdale Castle estate on the Kintyre peninsula, powered by the estate’s own hydro scheme, with botanicals including sheep sorrel from the grounds.
Kintyre GinMcQueen Distillery
Callander, Trossachs
A family distillery at Callander, at the gateway to the Trossachs, with a range that leans into flavoured expressions.
McQueen GinBorders & the South West
Hawick, Jedburgh, Kelso, and the Galloway coast.
The Borders Distillery
Hawick, Scottish Borders
The first legal distillery in the Scottish Borders since 1837, in a restored Victorian electrical works in Hawick.
William Kerr's Borders GinLilliard Gin
Jedburgh, Scottish Borders
A small Borders distillery at Jedburgh, named after the figure from the Battle of Ancrum Moor, working with hedgerow botanicals from the Teviot valley.
Lilliard GinKelso Gin Company
Kelso, Scottish Borders
A small Borders producer in Kelso with an unusually wide range, including botanicals like lovage and dead nettle that almost nobody else bothers with.
Crow Man's Gin, Kelso Rhubarb GinGalloway Distillery
Newton Stewart, Galloway
A purpose-built distillery outside Newton Stewart, making its own base spirit from Scottish wheat and using noble fir needles gathered in the Galloway forest. It traded as Crafty Distillery until it took the Galloway name.
Hills & Harbour GinDalton Distillery
Dalton, Dumfriesshire
A small Dumfriesshire distillery, one of a handful bringing distilling back to the south west.
Oro GinSolway Spirits
Cummertrees, Dumfriesshire
On the Solway coast at Cummertrees, near Annan, looking across the firth to England.
Solway Classic Gin