The City of Aberdeen Distillery, set into a railway arch on Palmerston Road, is closed on Mondays. But co-owner Alan Milne is on site fulfilling the Christmas influx of orders.
He is used to the extra hours. He’s been dealing with the annual Christmas rush for some time already.
“It starts in late September, early October – you start getting hints of it,” Alan says. “And then it gets steadily more crazy.”
There may be alcoholic drinks more entwined with Christmas – egg nog or mulled wine, for example. But gin, which is the primary focus of the City of Aberdeen Distillery, is in high demand at this time of year.
“I think people just like to have a gin and tonic,” says Alan. “It’s one of those things – people like to have a favorite drink and for a lot of people, gin ticks that box,”
The story behind City of Aberdeen Distillery
The City of Aberdeen Distillery has gone from strength to strength since Alan and business partner Dan Barnett opened it in December 2019.
It was the first distillery in Aberdeen since 1941, and Alan and Dan’s quickly expanding range of gins as well as vodkas won fans around the globe.
Their empire grew with the addition of a spirits school, which runs masterclasses on how to make your own gin.
Sitting at their very own miniature copper still, visitors learn all about the art of botanical gin flavouring before leaving with a personalised bottle.
The classes fill up quickly at Christmas, though none of the students come up with flavourings as wild as those from Alan and Dan.
Past releases at the City of Aberdeen Distillery include flavoured gins such as Chocolate & Mint, Tuck Shop and Lemon Zingle.
There was also a special Christmas release that pushed the boundries of gin flavourings to the festive limit.
“Yes, we did have a mince pie flavoured gin,” admits Alan.
The gin launched in 2020 and was a Christmas hit with customers. Alan and Dan intended it to be a one-off, but such was its success they are now considering a relaunch.
“It was only available in miniatures but we must have sold hundreds of bottles,” Alan recalls.
“We were originally going to call it Christmas Pie but then we started working with flavours and I actually made my own mince pie to see how all the spices came out when you bake them.
“The most difficult part was getting the pastry texture to the gin, but we did finally achieve that.”
What’s the best gin to drink with turkey?
At the moment, the distillery’s Christmas specials include the Winter Warmer, which is made with festive botanicals including orange, cloves and nutmeg.
Alan also recommends the Scottish Bramble gin, made with brambles grown around Aberdeen, as a Christmas winner.
“It’s a proper gin at 40% abv,” he adds. “It’s not a gin liqueur.”
The big question for Christmas, however, is what’s the right gin to drink with turkey?
“Turkey?” asks Alan, giving the question some serious thought. “You know, I would go with a rosemary one, or possibly lemon and lime.
“With the rosemary, just think about how those herbs with go with the stuffing. You’d get a nice match there.”
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