Latheron, Highland, Scotland
Ice and Fire Delightful Gin Highland Crofters
Ice and Fire Delightful Gin Highland Crofters
CAITHNESS HIGHLAND GIN
Caithness Highland Gin uses rhubarb, which was, and still is, a staple in any crofting garden along with salmonberries picked from the Latheronwheel Strath.
DETAILS
Key Botanical(s): Juniper, Lime Peel, Salmonberries, Rhubarb
Gin Style: London Dry
Strength: 40% vol
Goes great with: A fresh raspberry, a twist of lime peel, Mediterranean tonic and ice.
PRODUCTION
Method: Rectified – Grain Neutral Spirit
Location: Ice & Fire Distillery, Highland, Scotland
Released: July 2018
CROFTERS TEARS HIGHLAND GIN
The creators have carried through the crofting and Highland heritage with their ingredients, using what has been around in the Highlands for generations. Purple heather is the signature ingredient in Crofters Tears. All their lives, the family have lived with the sight of beautiful blooming purple heather on their doorstep.
DETAILS
Key Botanical(s): Juniper, Orange Peel, Purple Heather
Gin Style: London Dry
Strength: 40% vol
Goes great with: A fresh bramble, a twist of orange peel, tonic and ice.
PRODUCTION
Method: Rectified – Grain Neutral Spirit
Location: Ice & Fire Distillery, Highland, Scotland
Released: July 2018
PINKYS PROMISE HIGHLAND GIN
Following on from the success of their London Dry signature gins, Crofters Tears and Caithness Highland Gins, the distillery has added this raspberry infused pink gin to their range, offering something a little more sweet and colourful. Described as a deliciously fruity raspberry pink gin with notes of fresh, sweet raspberries on the nose and palate.
DETAILS
Key Botanical(s): Juniper, Raspberries
Gin Style: Flavoured
Strength: 37.5% vol
Goes great with: A few raspberries, tonic and ice.
PRODUCTION
Method: Rectified – Grain Neutral Spirit
Location: Ice & Fire Distillery, Highland, Scotland
Released: December 2021
Our Story
HOW WE CAME TO BE
Ice and Fire Delightful Gin of Highland Crofters
OUR ROOTS
Ice & Fire Distillery was born from our local area and a family of Highland Crofters wanting to try something different to sustain our crofting lives.
We all have crofts but the crofting way of life has to be supplemented to survive. What better way to survive than to make spirits from the local water and botanicals which harks back to an era when crofters made illegal whisky on their crofts. We started off with a 5 litre alembic still, moving up to a 10 litre, a 20 litre, a 100 litre and 2 x 200 litre Hoga Stills
We have had a great time developing recipes, getting friends and family to taste and give feedback and settled on our first two gin recipes “Caithness Gin” and Crofter’s Tears”, and now Caithness Raiders Rum.
Ice and Fire Delightful Gin Highland Crofters
OUR BRAND
We have tried to instill our background and heritage into the bottle, label and branding of our designs. Our bottles have been designed by us and represent both the area and our lives. The bottles have heather embossed around the bottom and the Ice and Fire logo and lettering are embossed on the glass.
The label represents the area we live in with the mountains of Morven and Scaraben, the crofthouse and the Wade bridge at Latheronwheel. The stag harks back to our heritage with Iain having been a gamekeeper all of his life.
OUR ARTISAN ETHOS
The Ice and Fire Distillery ethos is to distinguish our truly ‘artisan’ products. As craft distillers we can prove our craftsmanship and authenticity to restore the craft definition and consumer trust.
We ensure authenticity throughout our brand by using more natural home grown ingredients in our spirits.
Our ethos is to combine our knowledge and skills in distilling with our passion for the ingredients we use, to ensure that every bottle of spirits we produce is truly hand crafted, small batch and artisan. It is not just ingredients that goes into our bottles, it is our soul and character.
OUR ARTISAN PRODUCTS
We have carried through the crofting and Highland heritage with our ingredients using what has been around in the Highlands for generations. Purple heather is our signature ingredient in Crofters Tears. All the life we have lived with the sight of beautiful blooming purple heather on our doorstep so it was a must in any product and we are delighted that Crofter’s Tears Gin tastes as good as the heather looks.
Caithness Highland Gin uses rhubarb which was and still is a staple in any crofting garden along with salmonberries picked from the Latheronwheel Strath.
Caithness Raiders Rum harks back to the Viking Heritage of Caithness with our ferocious seas and Norse names. This dark spiced rum is the Dark and Wild side of Caithness…..
We prefer to think of our experimenting as a touch of alchemy and it has been hugely pleasurable to produce something we know is truly local and artisan in its origins.
Crofter’s Retreat
WELCOME TO OUR CAITHNESS COUNTRY HOUSE EXPERIENCE
ABOUT THE CROFTER’S RETREAT
The Crofter’s Retreat is a 4 bedroom country house set in its own wooded grounds with views over the sea. It lies 1 mile from the main A9 on the North Coast 500 route and can accommodate up to 8 people. There are a number of ways to arrive in Caithness. You can wind your way up the rugged coastline with spectacular cliff views on the NC500, fly into the tiny Wick John O groats airport or take the train to Helmsdale, Georgemas, Thurso or Wick.
THE ACCOMMODATION
We have two kingsize and two super-king size rooms. We are able to cater for four singles or four couples or a mixture of each. There is a guest sitting room and conservatory with views down to the sea at Latheronwheel.
The sitting room has an open fire and the fully fitted kitchen also has a log burning stove so you can have a cosy G & T or a dram of fine Caithness whisky by the fire. There is also oil central heating in the house so you will always be cosy.
THE WEEKEND EXPERIENCE
Your weekend starts whenever you want to arrive on the Friday. There is no set check-in time and similarly your check out time on the Monday is flexible so you have the potential to have four full days exploring the North Coast of Scotland.
On arrival at the Crofter’s retreat you can treat yourself to a dram of Ice & Fire Distillery Caithness Gin or Crofter’s Tears before settling into your weekend itinerary. The world is your oyster as there is a bit of something for everyone to see or do in Caithness.
BLEND YOUR OWN GIN
For the gin lovers amongst you, a masterclass in distilling is available with the opportunity to Blend Your Own Gin specifically to your own tastes. This can be done either by using vacuum distilled botanical distillates to create your own signature recipe or if you are feeling a bit more adventurous you can forage for botanicals in the Strath of Latheronwheel before distilling your recipe into a bottle of your own unique one-off Crofter’s Retreat Gin to be bottled and taken away with you. You can also see the process of making Caithness Gin and Crofter’s Tears gin and learn how to cut the heads, hearts and tails from a batch of gin.
