Shetland Island best beaches Friendly locals
Welcome to Shetland, an archipelago in the North Sea, where you’ll find freedom, wildlife and wild beauty, but also a rich culture and a dynamic, forward-looking society. 100% charming.
For the visitor, Shetland offers the opportunity for adventure and a return to nature – with epic coastal hikes, deserted white-sand beaches and a rich array of wildlife, from otters and orcas to Shetland ponies and bustling gannet colonies. You might come for some of the islands’ famous events, from the Up Helly Aa fire festivals to the Shetland Folk Festival and Shetland Wool Week, or to escape to a seafront bothy or a grand Georgian pile. You’ll eat amazing local produce, from Britain’s best mussels to tender lamb from free-roaming sheep. All the while, you’ll experience the famous Shetland welcome and the islands’ unique culture, with clearer Viking and Scandinavian influences than anywhere else in the UK.
The reddish Lang Ayre beach is completely magical. I love camping there and having breakfast on the beach, just listening to the sound of the waves on the smooth stones.
Shetland Island Distillery
Saxa Vord, Unst, Shetland ZE2 9TN, Verenigd Koninkrijk
The Saxa Vord Distillery is the home to the award winning Shetland Reel Gin & Whisky and the most northerly distillery in the UK. We provide guided tastings during the summer months for visitors to the distillery.
Shetland Reel Gin
Shetland Reel, distils award winning London dry gin in Shetland in the UK’s most northerly distillery in Unst. Each of our recipes are thoughtfully crafted; drawing inspiration from the botanicals and ingredients that surround our island distillery.
Shetland Island North Uist Distillery
Baile nan Cailleach, Steadings Benbecula HS7 5LU, Verenigd Koninkrijk
There’s also the Shetland Reel Ocean Sent Gin, which will remind you of the stunning Shetland coastline with each sip. This gin features native bladderwrack and has native nutritious seaweed that has been collected to produce this high-quality spirit.Last but certainly not least is the Shetland Reel Simmer Gin, named after the beautiful summer twilight skies that Shetland is known for. Eight botanicals comprise this London dry gin, including orange peel and liquorice root.You can find Shetland Reel gins on the Shetland Island of North Uist, the most northerly inhabited island of the Shetland Isles.
Shetland Island North Uist Gin
Premium Downpour Craft Gin from North Uist Distillery Co.
Citrus, spice and a punch of wild Hebridean heather. A Scottish Gin is bursting with botanicals, drenching you in big bold flavours you can taste in every drop.
Unleash the flavour cloud.
Clear in the bottle, cloudy in the glass. Downpour gin bursts into life with a splash of tonic, releasing essential oils from specially selected botanicals, drenching you in island flavour.
ABV: 46%
Bottle Size: 70
Botanicals: Citrus, Spice and a punch of Wild Hebridean Heather
Shetland Island Blackwoods Gin
73 Watling St, London EC4M 9BJ, Verenigd Koninkrijk
Blackwoods is an Authentic Scottish Dry Gin
Blackwoods is dedicated to celebrating the best Scottish produce. The original vintage gin, each year we select botanicals from Scotland’s best crops and distil in small batches using a traditional copper pot still for the ultimate taste of Scotland.
The Spirit of Scotland
Originating in Shetland, Blackwoods embodies the spirit of Scotland. Packed with juniper and bright citrus notes our use of native botanicals gives our spirits a distinctive Scottish accent.
Vintage Gin
Different each year, but always with a distinct Scottish accent, the 2021 vintage uses ingredients from the Scottish Coast including kelp, sweet water mint and sharp, citrusy sea buckthorn.
These botanicals are distilled with a juniper forward base alongside fresh grapefruit and lime, fennel and a pinch of black pepper for a classic gin with a fresh, citrus flavour and a hint of spice.
Best enjoyed over ice with tonic and a generous wedge of pink grapefruit.
Sample the best of Shetland’s food and drink
By Chloe Irvine October 1st 2021
Shetland is widely celebrated as being home to some of the most beautiful islands in Scotland. But, this is far from its only attraction. The isles are ideal for foodies wishing to sample fantastic produce or for those interested in working or investing in this expanding sector, writes Chloe Irvine.
Claire White has been manager of Shetland Food and Drink since May 2019 – and she has big ambitions.
She was recently appointed as Shetland’s Regional Food Tourism Ambassador, expressing a desire to “put us on a par with the leading food destinations in the world.”
“We have such a rich, natural larder in Shetland, I think that’s the selling point,” explains Claire.
“Our environmental credentials are first class by global standards. The seafood is just extraordinary, a lot of people don’t realise more fish is landed here than in Northern Ireland, England and Wales put together.
“Whalsay have got the most amazing fleet, there’s probably nowhere else like it for fish access.
“Even domestically, we tend to see folk buy haddock quite habitually and cook it quite simply, they fry it. There’s nothing like a fried haddock, tatties and butter, it’s hard to beat.
“Of course, there are lots of other fish that are caught here, such as turbot, hake, megrim, sole, ling, tusk… they are all really interesting, versatile fish.”
Claire White (right) is the manager of Shetland Food and Drink Taste of Shetland
The seafood is just extraordinary, a lot of people don’t realise more fish is landed here than in Northern Ireland, England and Wales put together.
Seafood will be among the fantastic produce celebrated at the annual Taste of Shetland festival organised by SFAD, this year a hybrid of online and physical events.
A new “Shetland Trailer” is set to be launched at the festival. Part of its use will be for “folk with no access to fish”, providing them with the chance to get “whatever they haven’t tried before”, which includes superb quality shellfish, like mussels and scallops.
Shetland fish and seafood caught and landed in the isles is “just extraordinary” From left: Rachael Arthur; River Thompson; Taste of Shetland
It’s not all about fish, though. The festival and trailer will be used to promote the full extent of Shetland’s produce, much of it with exceptional provenance.
That, of course, includes Shetland lamb, which has received European Protection Designation status for a number of years.
Additionally, Shetland produces high-quality vegetables, a sector which Claire revealed is “expanding all the time”. In part that is thanks to the likes of Ollaberry-based social enterprise Polycrub, which produces and erects a gale-proof, hard-polycarbonate clad version of the polytunnel.
They are increasingly popular, enabling produce to thrive under even the toughest of weather conditions.
We would love to have folk that would come here and have that passion for food, we’d love to invite them to come and network with us and to invest.
Claire has now called for more people to get involved in Shetland’s hospitality sector – and to celebrate the fantastic food and drink that is found in the isles.
“We would love to have folk that would come here and have that passion for food, we’d love to invite them to come and network with us and to invest.”
She believes one of the attractions of Shetland is the ability to “really connect in a genuine way to the environment in which the food is created.
“For that you can’t do much better than Shetland,” she adds.
There are exciting opportunities for anyone who interested in joining the burgeoning sector.
“It can be a real journey of discovery for someone who is really caring and passionate about food. It’s also kind of unknown territory you’d be stepping into, you could be the trailblazer or pioneer and really make a reputation for yourself that way.
“Also, it’s such a great place to live in terms of family life, it’s a great place to raise children and it’s a flexible form of employment in some senses. There’s lots of opportunities in Shetland, you would have no bother whatsoever if you wanted a job in the hospitality industry, you could get one tomorrow.”
The Taste of Shetland festival returns in October 2021. Taste of Shetland
A Taste of Shetland Festival 2021 is set to serve up its varied menu on 23 October from 10am-5pm at the Clickimin Centre in Lerwick. For those unable to attend in person, the event can be enjoyed virtually online from 11am-3pm.
Meanwhile, Taste of Shetland are releasing several informative videos on food heritage such as traditional Shetland dairy and salt fish, which you can access via their website or social networks. Other subjects are in the works, including traditional Shetland agriculture, which Claire says will be released within the next fortnight. At the end of the year, a video focusing on reestit mutton will also come out.
Last year, four films were released regarding rhubarb, mackerel fishing, tattie soup and Shetland lamb to explore the “regional difference” in comparison to elsewhere.
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