A charity set up by a Moray teenager has launched a limited edition gin to mark what would have her 21st birthday.
Abbie Main set up Abbie’s Sparkle Foundation before she died of cancer aged 15 on Christmas Day 2017.
Now the trustees have come up with a way of marking what would have been her milestone birthday.
Originally the idea started as a gin auction – giving 21 gins away to the highest bidders to raise money for the charity.
A one-off Sparkle Gin
Trustee Lauren Donald wanted to take it one step further and create a one-off Abbie Sparkle gin but decided only having one bottle could cause arguments over who got to keep it.
Back at the drawing board, she went to collect a bottle for the auction at Roehill Springs Distillery in Keith.
Once there, she got chatting with owners Duncan and Shirley Morrison, who run the small distillery on their family farm.
The Morrisons fell in love with Abbie’s story, Mrs Donald fell in love with the distillery, and the limited edition gin was born.
Abbie’s Sparkle Foundation works to support children and other young people suffering cancer and their families.
Sparkle Gin’s slightly pink tint, hint of fruity flavour and added sparkle are a nod to Abbie’s legacy.
It was collaboratively created by the Morrisons, Mrs Donald and Tammy Main, Abbie’s mum and the ingredients – from the water to the berries – were sourced on the farm.
The initial batch of limited edition gin is made up of 150 bottles priced at £40 each and is available for preorder on Roehill Springs Distillery’s website.
‘It all focuses ultimately on Abbie’
Mrs Morrison said, for the couple, “the story behind the charity is very much something we wanted to be involved in.”
The distillery owner explained how important it was that Abbie was the focus of the process: “We added some berries that we foraged locally in our woodland that we thought would be nice, like guelder rose, to have a sort of feminine side as a nod to Abbie as a young girl.
“It all focuses ultimately on her and next year when it would have been her 21st birthday. It’s not fruity, but it’s smooth and mellow with a slight hint of autumnal fruit.”
The addition of sparkle could have been a sticking point for other distillers, but Mrs Morrison said it was “fitting” with this batch.
“Tammy and Lauren liked the idea of a hint of sparkle,” she said. “Some distillers don’t like playing around too much with that but we felt this gin was primarily for them, it’s not about us.”
‘They’ve taken all our ideas on board’
The original plan for the gin auction was part of Mrs Donald’s ongoing 21 Sparkle Challenge – through which she is undertaking 21 challenges in 21 months before Abbie’s 21st birthday next October.
She said she was excited to work with a local, family-run distillery to make the gin and was surprised by how much they threw themselves into the project.
“I originally thought it might be one of their gins with our label on it, but they’ve made a whole new gin for us and taken all our ideas on board,” she said.
She added: “The water they use to make the gin is taken from their little stream and they’ve been out and picked the berries themselves. They’re willing to do a lot of work for no profit.”
The Morrisons are producing the gin at cost and the companies making the labels and QR codes for the bottles offered them for free when they heard Abbie’s story.
Sparkle Gin will be on sale until Abbie’s 21st birthday in October next year. If the initial batch of 150 sells out before then, another batch will be made.
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