It's Valentine's Day!

Your spirits expert goes all romantic over a duo of new Speyside gins with a poetic connection

- Euan Duguid

WHILE some people travel around theworld before meeting their match, others find theirs not far from the front door. The folks at Speyside Distillery, famed for its single malt Scotch, have just fallen head over heels into that latter category after creating two boutique gin expressions – with botanicals found growing in their own grounds.

“We are in the Cairngorms National Park, so we are acutely aware of the abundant nature on our doorstep,” said John Harvey McDonough, CEO of the distillery near Kingussie. “We’re also members of the Cairngorms Business Partnership.

“On learning our plans for gin distillation, they put us in contact with the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland, who, in turn, put us in touch with Andy Amphlett, the county recorder for the society, who happens to be from nearby Grantown.

“Andy came along and, using his deep-seated knowledge of botanicals, he hand-selected plants and berries from the distillery’s gardens.

“Using those raw materials a whole new spirit has been created and crafted by distillery manager Sandy Jamieson. It’s all quite something.”

A whisky distillery taking a foray into the gin market  isn’t exactly pioneering – but this venture does have an air of je ne sais quoi.