The North East does gin the way it does most things: quietly, on family land, with the money reinvested. Several of the distilleries here sit on estates and draw on what the estate already grows — Scots pine, soft fruit, hedgerow. Aberdeen adds a city edge to it.
Distilleries in Aberdeenshire & the North East
Every one with a still house in the region.
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 GinOther regions
- HighlandsWild. Bold. Unforgettable.
- IslandsDistinctive. Coastal. Pure.
- Speyside & MorayElegant. Refined. Complex.
- Angus, Dundee & PerthshireField to bottle.
- FifeThe quiet giant.
- Edinburgh & the LothiansHistoric. Creative. Distinctive.
- Glasgow, Argyll & the WestCity stills and sea lochs.
- Borders & the South WestThe overlooked half.