A drinks entrepreneur has this weekend launched the first batch of a new gin brand in Elgin.
Jill Brown has raised a glass to the growing craze for gin-making with Avva Scottish Gin, flavoured with a range of botanicals hand-foraged from Highland and Speyside.
The launch is part of a significant drinks industry trend.
Figures from the Wine and Spirit Trade Association showed that 49 gin distilleries opened across the UK last year, including 11 in Scotland. There were 233 licensed gin distilleries in the UK with more than half of them in Scotland, where 70% of the UK’s output is produced, including category leaders, Diageo’s Gordon’s and William Grant & Son’s Hendrick’s.
Ms Brown is aiming to trade on Speyside’s rich history of distilling Scotland’s other favourite tipple.
Her firm, Moray Distillery, commissioned the neighbouring Speyside Copper Works to build the 250litre still that produces Avva.
It is the second alcohol-inspired venture for Ms Brown, who also launched multi-award winning liqueur business Berry Good, which produces a range of fruit-flavoured drinks which uses locally produced berries.
Ms Brown said of the new gin: “It’s the transformation of what many consider weeds, which are gathered and preserved to allow year-long use.
“A flavour profile is established from each botanical, which allows a recipe to be developed then onto a trial batch of spirit.
“The previous experience I have with compounding spirits for liqueur production most definitely helped establish recipes for Avva Scottish Gin. The distillation process was where I wanted to go with the business and I appreciate the importance of utilising local suppliers, which is why I chose for the still to be made in Moray.
“Not many distillers or distilleries were able to just pop over the road to see it all coming together. A Scottish still for a Scottish gin seems fitting.”
Originally based in Caithness where she started the Berry Good business from her home, Ms Brown relocated the business to Elgin in recent months.
A graduate of the Scottish Agricultural College, Craibstone, with a BA in rural business management, Ms Brown has employed a network of friends and family to source botanicals from John O’Groats to the Spey valley.
