Colonsay Quality Gin Distillery Tour Tasting
On arrival at Colonsay, you’ll be ready to immerse yourself in the remote Hebridean beauty of our island; untouched beaches, stunning scenery, rare wildlife, rocky shorelines and rugged cliffs. Intimate and unspoilt – nature at its finest.
Then of course, there’s the gin. We have a collection of over 200 gins from around the world for you to choose from and, over the course of the weekend, we aim to help you try something new, revisit an old favourite or maybe even find a new one.
Wild Thyme Spirits Ltd
Wild Thyme Spirits Ltd Tigh na Uruisg, Upper Kilchattan, Isle of Colonsay PA61 7YR, Verenigd Koninkrijk
Gin Lovers Retreat
Upper Kilchattan, Isle of Colonsay.
Duration
- 2 days: Friday 19: 00 to Sunday 18:00
About
Our Gin Lovers Retreat is a luxury weekend package which caters for small parties of between 4 and 6 people over a weekend, Friday to Sunday allowing guests to unwind and of course, sample our gin from a collection of over 200 from around the world.
In August 2016, husband and wife team, Finlay and Eileen Geekie, packed up all their worldly possessions, left behind the hustle and bustle of Oxfordshire, where they’d lived for over 30 years, and moved to their newly completed, self-build house, to start a new life on the tiny, remote Hebridean island of Colonsay. Their new business provides them with the opportunity to combine their love of all things gin with their desire to create a viable future, living and working on this wild island, and, at the same time, make a significant contribution to the future sustainability and ongoing development of the local island economy and community as a whole.
FIN
Fin studied Architecture at Dundee University, before working in private practice in Oxfordshire. A move into the house building sector saw him concentrate on business management before gaining an MBA from Oxford Brookes University.
After several years ‘climbing the corporate ladder’, he achieved his goal of being the Regional Director of a major house building business. Using all the experience gained during this time, in 2004 he established his own property development company. Fin has now moved to Colonsay to live and work and build Wild Thyme Spirits.
EILEEN
Eileen studied Commerce at Abertay University in Dundee, before going on to complete a postgraduate teacher training Certificate in Secondary Education, Moray House, in Edinburgh. Her early career saw her teaching Business Studies at schools in Dundee and Oxford before moving into the business world with Blackwell Bookstores in Oxford.
After a career break to become a mum to two boys, Eileen specialized in the field of Human Resources, returning to Blackwells, before furthering her specialization at Oxfam, and Oxford University. Her final placement was at the Oxford Primary Health Care Trust.
THE HELPERS – MYTHICAL
In Celtic folklore, every house had a Brownie or Spirit, or in Gaelic, an Uruisg {oor-isk} to help with household chores. They were traditionally male, small in stature, illusive, and worked only at night. They became attached to particular families and estates, with whom they stayed for centuries. There are two at Wild Thyme Spirits; twins, Doughal & Ferghus
They help ALVA, a delightful, red-haired maiden, a very special Brownie with supernatural powers, a Gruagach {groo-ah-gak}. Long, long ago she somehow survived when her Viking long boat crashed on the wild island’s unforgiving rocks.
She stumbled ashore and took shelter at Tigh Na Uruisg {tee-na-oor-isk}, or Home of the Spirit, where she remains to this day. She uses all her powers to protect her secret recipes from those desperate to know. With an alchemist’s touch, she transforms humble botanicals into gin.
Colonsay Gin is crafted using a range of botanicals, including juniper, coriander, angelica root, liquorice, orange peel and calamus root.
The nose is lovely and earthy to begin with and the juniper berries really shine.
It is bursting with pine notes and citrus aromas add a delicate zest. Juniper definitely takes the foreground and storms ahead, with a rich earthen flavour.
The palate booms with more citrus flavours, especially orange. The coriander starts to appear here as well and makes itself known with a lovely turpentine note.
It is rich and luxurious and leaves you with no doubt that this is a classic, traditionally distilled Gin.
The finish rounds everything off with juniper and a lasting hint of coriander.
This is a bright and refreshing Gin that is certainly not to be missed. If you’re looking for something not entirely challenging in its flavour profile but also entirely flawless and a solid nod towards what a great Gin really is, then this is the perfect Gin for you.
GIN DISTILLERY TOUR
The distillery tour lasts approximately an hour and is a true journey of discovery.
Meet ‘Jinty’ our beautiful copper gin still and hear first-hand about the process used to distil our multi-award winning Colonsay Gin. You will be shown how we distil, bottle, label and finish our bottles as well as learning lots of fascinating facts about the gin making process.
Finishing, of course, with a gin tasting experience sampling all our products, all of which are available to purchase during your visit. The tours run between 12:00 – 16:00 Mon-Sat and by prior appointment and cost £14/person.
You can find the distillery in Upper Kilchattan, close to the primary school, overlooking Loch Fada and approximately 4 miles from the pier at Scalasaig.
Colonsay beach and hotel.
Colonsay has a number of superb beaches dotted across the whole island. Whether swimming, family picnics, paddle boarding, surfing or walking you’ll always find one with a bit of shelter on most days. There’s plenty of ancient history and amazing natural features to discover on these beaches too. Here are some of our favourite Colonsay beaches.
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