Unit 5, Block 1, Duckburn Park, Dunblane, FK15 0EW
Kilty Gin Lucrative distilled heart of Scot
The Kilty Story
When I was younger, I used to love watching my grandpa make wine. I would ask to eat some of the grapes he used to buy in big cardboard trays and watch the bubbles flow around the air lock.
He made what seemed like thousands of bottles and ran a local wine club with hundreds of members.
He was a role model for me in many ways and later in life, I too started to become more interested in the processes of making drinks with alcohol.
My passions were more towards the spirits though, initially whisky, but when I discovered gin at the grand old age of 30, I found my true spirit.
From then I started to read everything I could about the gin and distilling. I would dream that maybe one day I could open my own distillery and make my very own gin.
I initially went to gin fayres and learnt as much as I could with both my palate and my ears. I started to visit other distilleries and learn exactly what was involved in the process of making gin and setting up your own distillery.
Following this, I enrolled on more formal training with a distilling course in Sunderland. It took me over 2 years to gain all the knowledge and skills to start up my own gin distillery.
Finally, in late January of 2019, after hundreds of hours of trials, the first batch of Kilty Gin started to flow off the still.
As I tasted it, I knew instantly that I had created something special. I absolutely love the amazing feedback I have had from the already loyal group of Kilty fans and even other distillers. I can’t wait for you to try Kilty Gin too!
Kilty Purely Botanical Gin
Kilty Gin
Lovingly distilled in the heart of Scotland
Kilty Gin is a bold, juniper led London Dry Style Gin, or should I say, Dunblane Dry Gin?
A total of 10 different botanicals were carefully selected to give the perfect balance for Kilty Gin. Rowan berries are one of the key signature botanicals in Kilty Gin.
With the help of friends and family, I hand pick Rowan berries from just outside the distillery (and all over Scotland when away on trips). They add a unique sweet but crisp flavour that sits perfectly with the other 9 botanicals.
The Rowan tree (mountain ash tree) is synonymous with Scotland and always seemed a very fitting botanical to use, especially as my favourite tune to play on the bagpipes as a kid was ‘The Rowan tree’.
Look out for these small red berries in October when they are fully ripe. We freeze ours straight away to keep them fresh throughout the year.
Kilty Gin botanicals and tasting notes
When you first pour yourself a Kilty Gin, I recommend you initially give the glass a swirl and smell the gin neat. You will be welcomed by a bold but welcoming juniper nose followed up by the higher floral notes of the heather tips and the enticing orange and cardamom elements.
Moving on to the palate you’ll notice the rowan berries imparting a rounded sweetness and the cardamom provides a lovely warming character. Towards the end a clear crispness comes through from the pink peppercorns. Orange and cardamom end the show as they gradually fade away to leave soft, pleasant finish.
Serving Suggestions
After testing dozens of garnishes, I feel that Kilty Gin is joined perfectly either by a slice of fresh grapefruit or a slice of freshly cut ginger. The slight bitterness of the grapefruit perfectly compliments the sweet and warm characteristics of Kilty Gin. Alternatively the ginger works amazingly well with the cardomom notes to give a uniquely delicious refreshing taste
For tonic, a classic Indian style tonic works wonderfully well or alternatively, a Mediterranean tonic is a great partner too. I would love to hear if you have a favourite tonic for your Kilty Gin!
LIMITED EDITION BEN NEVIS SNOW MELT KILTY GIN
£35.00
Kilty Ben Nevis Gin – 44.3% Vol 50clLimited Edition Ben Nevis Snow Melt Kilty Gin quantity﹣﹢Add to cart
Description
Want to add an entirely unique gin to your collection, then surely this is it?
I wanted to combine my two passions of the great Scottish outdoors and quality Scottish spirits, so I climbed up Ben Nevis (via the CMD arete for those of you who know Ben Nevis) to collect snow from the very top of Ben Nevis in to two 15 litre fermentation buckets. These were duly carried down the mountain and made their way back to the distillery in Dunblane, by which time they had mainly turned from Ben Nevis summit snow in to Ben Nevis snow melt.
I used this Ben Nevis snow melt to distil locally hand picked rowan berries on a special piece of distilling equipment called a Rotovap Still. This ultra premium still only allows me to distil enough for 17 bottles at a time. The remainder of the distillation is carried out on the main still and the two unique distillations blended together to create Kilty Nevis Gin. It runs along a similar vein to the classic Kilty gin but the unique 2 still distillations, along with changes to the botanical elements profile & resultant bottling strength of 44.3% abv make this Kilty gin truly unique.
After hand filling each bottle, they are sealed with silver wax and labelled with bespoke Harvey Map Ben Nevis summit labels.
Harvey maps are a fantastic map making business located just a few miles down the road from where Kilty gin is distilled, in Doune (also famous for the series Outlander and Monty Python). We wanted to make these bottles really special and Harvey maps kindly allowed us to use their excellent Ben Nevis Summit map to adorn the labels of this limited Kilty Nevis Gin
Botanicals:
Rowan Berries hand picked and distilled on a Buchi Rotavap still using Ben Nevis snow melt. This preserves the crisp, sweet flavour of the Rowan berries and uses as much of the Ben Nevis snow melt as possible.
The second distillation is carried out on the main still. I decided to use fresh oranges from the Marks and Spencers food-hall which is located close by to the Kilty gin distillery. This helps keeps a fresh and natural flavour.
Of course, you’ll find all the usual gin making suspects of juniper, corriander and angelica along with heather tips and delicious cardamon pods.
Perfect Serve: Perfectly served with a slice of red or pink grapefruit. If you like your gin classic, go with an Indian Tonic or alternatively try a Pomelo & Pink Pepper tonic (made by the London Essence Company)
KILTY CRANACHAN PINK GIN
£35.00
Kilty Cranachan Pink Gin – 40% Vol 50clKilty Cranachan Pink Gin quantity﹣﹢Add to cart
Description
Inspired by the famous Scottish dessert, Kilty Cranachan is distilled with the finest Scottish Oats, honey and raspberries. Still a classic gin, but a sweeter alternative to our classic Kilty London dry style gin.
Lovingly distilled in the Cathedral city of Dunblane, located in the heart of Scotland.
Each batch of less than 200 bottles is distilled by myself and my father here in Dunblane. A true Scottish craft spirit.
Botanicals: Distilled with Scottish oats, honey and raspberries. Of course also distilled, the signature hand picked rowan berries.
Further botanicals include Juniper (still the main botanical), coriander, lemon peel and angelica root.
The raspberries on honey are individually distilled on our 3 litre ‘Rotavap’ still. This allows us to carry out the distillation under a special vacuum at 40-60’C which preserves the fine, delicate flavours of the raspberries and honey. This is then added to the main distillation and left to rest for two weeks.
Perfect Serve: Perfectly served with three raspberries and a slice of lemon. We recommended using a regular Indian tonic or the Kilty Cranachan pink gin goes incredibly well with lemonade. Definitely a must try!
Meet the team
Although I started Kilty Gin, I couldn’t have done it without the amazing help from my family.
To be honest, the most important person in the team is my mum. She is incredibly shy and when I ask to take a photo as she works her way through hand labelling 200 bottles every batch, she tends to decline politely but firmly.
When I first took delivery of the first few hundred glass bottles that I use for Kilty Gin, it soon became apparent that due to their tapered shape, a standard labelling machine wouldn’t work for applying the unique labels. The kind of label machine I would need would cost thousands of pounds.
I am hugely grateful to my mum for stepping in and offering to literally hand label every single bottle (4 labels per bottle!!) and then hand write on each batch and bottle number. That’s just the tip of the iceberg of how much she helps out, taking on the role of many of the boring admin jobs also, of which there are loads! I am incredibly grateful!!
Dad is also hugely willing to help in whichever way he can and will often be found helping out with the distilling itself and anything that requires physically working hard. He loves keeping fit and certainly a day in the distillery is no rest day.
Here is a photo I’ve managed to find taken last year, with my mum on the left, me on the right, dad and brother in the middle and definitely not forgetting, Sandy, the family dog, also in the middle.
Whenever you next have a glass of gin, I encourage you to raise a glass to family! Cheers
