Orkney scotland.
Orkney Scots: Orkney; Old Norse: Orkneyjar; Norn: Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands (archaically “The Orkneys”, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north of the coast of Caithness and has about 70 islands, of which 20 are inhabited. The largest island, the Mainland, has an area of 523 square kilometres (202 sq mi), making it the sixth-largest Scottish island and the tenth-largest island in the British Isles. Orkney’s largest settlement, and also its administrative centre, is Kirkwall.
Orkney Gin scotland.
Orkney Gin Company
Spirits Limited Micro Distillery (No Visitor Centre/Shop), Burray, Orkney KW17 2SS, Verenigd Koninkrijk
About Us
“At Orkney Gin Company, we make our spirit the traditional way. We’re a small scale family business,
and we’re proud of our Orcadian roots.”
Gary Watt – Owner/Director and Head Distiller
Our spirits are produced on the Isle of Burray, Orkney– the ‘Broch Isle’ of Scapa Flow.
At Orkney Gin Company we are passionate about our local history and folklore. We think it’s important to remind people of archaic words once used on the Orkney Islands, traditions still enjoyed today and love repeating tales once told through many generations through our Selkie Folk inspired bottles. Many of the all-natural ingredients in our spirits have been hand-picked and enjoyed for hundreds of years by many families here on our islands.
HAND-MADE WITH LOVE
Our method of making our gins; Johnsmas, Mikkelmas and Rhubarb Old Tom takes us back hundreds of years to the bathtub method. These three gins are distilled seven times to ensure they are of a fantastic quality, then we add botanicals in stages over varied time periods to our ultra-small batches. This technique can take up to a month for each small batch from start to end, and when we made Sloe & Crow, it took almost five months! This process works really well with ingredients including rose petals and mint, as many of them do not respond well to heat. They enjoy steeping cold and the alcohol absorbs the beautiful fresh flavours creating flavours unlike most other gins.
Our Aatta Gin and unique Orkney Akvavit (Scotland’s first ever Aquavit) are made slightly different. Similar to our other gins, botanicals are steeped in the spirit (this time for a shorter period), then they are distilled one more time in our purpose built 250 litre intelligent still, creating an incredible eight times distilled silky-smooth spirit. We use only whole botanicals in these spirits, including whole oranges and Madigascan vanilla. The botanicals chosen behave slightly differently to those in our other gins, with many ingredients including rose hips opened up to embrace the temperature changes and give many depths of flavour.
BOTTLED BY HAND
The next stages are the same for all our spirits. Our specially designed bottles are cleaned by hand by the window overlooking Scapa Flow, then bottled using our new four bottle filling machine. We work with bottles in two’s (because we would love to be an octopus but we sadly aren’t), filling two and moving two towards the corking area. Another member of our family will hand-cork the bottles, then it is dried and each label is placed on carefully by hand. Each bottle is then shrink wrapped and placed into one of our cases ready for orders.
INSPIRED BY OUR ISLANDS
Orkney’s rich culture of traditions formed the inspiration behind each distinct taste. Our spirits are made using traditional techniques, we don’t believe in rushing to get to the end product, and we like to keep our company as a small family business, nothing corporate, all hand-made with love and only the best ingredients.
We use as many hand picked (foraged) and home grown Orcadian botanicals as we can find around us including; heather flower, crow berries, rhubarb, rose petals and rose hips. These were used by our ancestors in the past for cooking and drinks making. We love to look at old cookery books from local areas for new ingredients and combinations, and we are always looking for more fresh ingredients around us while we walk around Orkney.
Our labels and bottles were inspired by the beautiful stoneware and glassware we are sometimes lucky enough to find washed up on Orkney’s beaches. They remind us of simple times, where small genuine family run businesses like our own were everywhere. We love how looking at something special can make you feel like you’ve been transported to a different time.
Almost all of our design work – including the website and bottles themselves have been completed in house by our family. We find doing it this way ensures the look of our products perfectly marry the flavour and what we are all about. The exception in our design work would be Hackney and Co’s gorgeous drawings. She lives just down the road from us, a family friend and illustrator, who drew the beautiful botanicals you see surrounding the bottles online, and she also enjoyed trying out seascapes, painting the back of our Orkney Akvavit bottle.
Our logo depicts a Selkie-Woman. Stories of the elusive selkie-folk – seals which are able to cast their skin and assume human form – highlight how mysterious and alluring these shape shifting creatures may have been. The tales of their interactions with humans have been passed down through generations of Orcadians and on to our bottles today.
Our spirits are produced on the Isle of Burray, Orkney– the ‘Broch Isle’ of Scapa Flow.
At Orkney Gin Company we are passionate about our local history and folklore. We think it’s important to remind people of archaic words once used on the Orkney Islands, traditions still enjoyed today and love repeating tales once told through many generations through our Selkie Folk inspired bottles. Many of the all-natural ingredients in our spirits have been hand-picked and enjoyed for hundreds of years by many families here on our islands.
HAND-MADE WITH LOVE
Aatta Orkney Gin Award Winning
Aatta
The Bespoke Bottle
With our Aatta, we brought our well known ‘selkie wife’ (which can be seen in our logo on all our previous spirits) to life by hand painting elements of the iridescent inner label. Tales of these mysterious sirens which were said to lure unsuspecting sailors into the sea can be found in many folklore books and stories of these creatures are kept alive by people like ourselves who continue to talk about it.
The bespoke gorgeous prism shaped bottle and quality glass stopper reflect light and create an effect on the siren inside, as she appears to move and swim. The bottle has our company name, ‘Orkney Spirits Limited’ debased in the glass itself, with a gorgeous deep base made into the shape of the seabed oozing class and mystery. This bottle looks amazing on any shelf and truly represents the quality spirit inside.
Aatta The Story
Inspired by our local history and folklore, Aatta – meaning eight in Old Norse, the language once spoken on the Orkney Islands – is a distinctive London Dry Gin, distilled an impressive eight times with eight botanicals. London Dry is a style of gin making with specific quality standards which must be followed to allow use of the name. Aatta is set to be our signature gin with whole fresh botanicals bursting with flavour.
Aatta Botanicals
Aatta is a complex and bright London Dry Gin. Whole Croatian juniper adds a piney and green freshness, fresh Sicilian oranges form a bright zest and dancing zing, hand-picked rose hips create a lively and slightly floral touch with the seeds inside giving another dimension, more earthy and rich. A few sticks of cinnamon add another earthy yet slightly sweet component and whole Madagascan vanilla gives the spirit a long and velvety finish.
KIRKJUVAGR ORKNEY GIN scotland.
Orkney Distilling Limited Ayre Road Kirkwall Orkney KW15 1QX
Created to reflect the boldness of Orkney’s Norse ancestors, the clarity of the seas and the purity of the air. A local legend states that the botanical Angelica was brought to the island by one of the many ships and groups of Vikings who visited the island. Angelica is now one of the defining ingredients, complementing a distinctive blend of local botanicals, including ramanas rose, burnet rose and borage.
Uniquely, they’ve also used traditional bere barley in the signature gin recipe. The custom glassware, revealed in December 2021, retains the signature Orcadian wave design but has been integrated into the cut of the glass, creating a beautiful sculpted texture. “Vegvisir”, the mythical Norse compass, also remains; stamped into the bottle and etched atop the closure.
Welcome, adventurer! Your epic Orkney saga has begun. We invite you to enter our new distillery and visitor centre in Kirkwall, to toast the gods and learn the secrets behind our legendary Kirkjuvagr Gin.
A MODERN ORCADIANSAGA
Our quest is to earn Kirkjuvagr mythical status with gin drinkers around the world.
We handcraft our gin in small batches using traditional copper stills in a process defined by passion, commitment and attention to detail.
After all, the Vikings didn’t mess around. Nor do we.
And the symbol on our bottle top? That’s a Vegvisir, or Viking compass. Its power helped the Norsemen find their way. Now we hope it’ll lead you north on your own epic voyage to discover the home of Kirkjuvagr.
A MYTH IN THE MAKING
When creating Kirkjuvagr, on the shores of Kirkwall Bay, we thought it fitting to seek out a connection to our Viking ancestors that ran deeper than just our name.
We then discovered a local legend that spoke of a variety of Angelica brought to the islands by Norsemen centuries ago, which can still be found growing wild today.
Naturally, this very Angelica is now one of our defining ingredients, complementing a distinctive blend of local botanicals, including Ramanas Rose, Burnet Rose and Borage. Uniquely, we’ve also used traditional Orkney bere barley in our recipe.
KIRKJUVAGR ORKNEYGIN BOTANICALS
When forming the Kirkjuvagr Orkney Gin recipe, we discovered a local legend that spoke of a variety of Angelica brought to the islands by Norsemen centuries ago. This Angelica can still be found growing wild today.
It became one of our defining ingredients, complementing a unique blend of local botanicals, including Ramanas Rose, Burnet Rose and Borage. Uniquely, we’ve also used traditional Orkney bere barley in our recipe.
Our Orcadian botanicals have been specially grown and handpicked for us by the Agronomy Institute of the University of the Highlands and Islands, at their site overlooking Kirkwall Bay.
The legacy Viking.
Orkney remained part of a Scandinavian kingdom until 1468 when the islands were pawned to the Scottish Crown by Christian I of Denmark as a dowry for his daughter’s marriage to James III of Scotland. The great story of Orkney’s Viking age is told in the Orkneyinga Saga, written in Iceland in the 12th century.
Because The legacy of Orkney’s Viking past as a seat of great power in the Norse empire remains strong to this day.
Travel throughout the islands and you’ll see countless place names that are unmistakably Scandinavian in origin, along with fascinating archaeological sites where one can almost sense a Viking presence. Genetic studies have found that many Orcadians are actually descended from the Norse people who settled the islands in the late 8th century. That heritage is still immensely important within our community.
In the centuries following the arrival of the Norse in Orkney, the islands grew to become one of the most strategically important jewels in the Scandinavian crown, serving as a focus for trade, a strategic base and a launching off point for voyages and raids.
Orkney remained part of a Scandinavian kingdom until 1468 when the islands were pawned to the Scottish Crown by Christian I of Denmark as a dowry for his daughter’s marriage to James III of Scotland.
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