If your tipple of choice is gin, then the 1881 Distillery gin garden is just the place you need to set up shop at this year’s Taste of Grampian event.
Serving their award-winning gins and other spirits from their classic Citroen HY van, festivalgoers will be able to enjoy a range of drinks in the specially crafted garden which will boast deck chairs, tables and parasols.
1881 Distillery & Gin School is based at Peebles Hydro Hotel in the borders and is part of the Crieff Hydro Hotel group. The firm boasts five different expressions with their gin range, all of which will be on offer at the festival with their perfect serves.
As an added bonus, attendees will be able to sample the brand’s new soon-to-be-launched summer edition Garden Gin for the first time at the event at P&J Live in Aberdeen on Saturday (June 4).
The firm have collaborated with Edinburgh Honey Co. to make this citrus and honey flavoured gin that is 40% ABV. It will be sold in 50cl bottles, retails at £25 and boasts botanicals such as orange peel, lemon peel, lime, chilli, hibiscus and honey.
Its perfect serve is bitter lemon and some candied ginger.
Cocktails and tinned gin
For those who love cocktails, 1881 Distillery & Gin School will offer a range of gin-based versions to showcase the brand’s offering, as well as classic cocktails with other spirits like vodka and rum in them.
Charlie Leckie, brand manager for the firm, is looking forward to serving up drinks and introducing their latest release to festivalgoers.
“We’ll be serving up our six different gin and tonics that we have. There will be gin and tonic cans to take away and we’ll be selling bottles of our gins, too,” he said.
“Hydro is our London Dry gin and is our signature expression so we’ll have that, plus our pink gin, Pavilion, Rafters – our oak smoked gin, Honours which is our Navy strength gin and we’ll have Tiffin gin which is an Eastern spiced one.
“There will be music outside of our stand run by Kingfisher Music in the gin garden that we are sponsoring to create a great atmosphere.”
Festivalgoers can expect to pay around £5 for a double strength gin and tonic can, £4 for a single, £8 for a double and roughly £7 for cocktails, however, prices may vary on the day.
Taste of Grampian first timers
1881 Distillery & Gin School launched three years ago and is said to boast the largest residential gin school in the UK. At the gin school, there are 26 individual copper stills which enable them to give multiple customers the chance to make their own gin to their liking at the same time.
This is the brand’s first time exhibiting at Scotland’s biggest one-day food and drink festival and Charlie is expecting the gin garden to be popular with those in attendance.
He added: “The festival showcases Scottish food and drink and we thought it was the perfect place to show what we do. We do everything at our distillery in Scotland and we thought it would be the perfect fit.
“It will be great to meet some of our existing customers, but we’re really looking forward to meeting new customers and introducing them to our brand.”
Tickets for the festival, which runs from 9am to 6pm, are priced at £12 each and children under 12 go free. It is free to park at P&J Live on the day.
Taste of Grampian is run in association with Quality Meat Scotland and is also supported by ANM Group, Opportunity North East, Aberdeenshire Council, The Press and Journal and Evening Express.
This year the festival has teamed up with Community Food Initiatives North East (Cfine) in Aberdeen as the dedicated charity. Its theme is also centred around sustainability.
