Gin, once denigrated as mother’s ruin
Now I am not so old … (what??) but I remember a time, not so long ago when your choice of drinks was pretty limited to a beer with whisky chaser for the gents and a nice glass of wine for the ladies. No, not Blue Nun or Black Tower– not that old thank you, but a nice Chardonnay was the drink of choice.
If the lady didn’t like wine she would opt for a vodka and coke (or voddy and coke as we say).
On the occasion I would treat the saintly Mrs Cowie to her tea out, we might stretch to a gin and tonic as we read the fancy menu and the choice was down to Gordon’s or Beefeater or if we really had something to celebrate then a Bombay Sapphire … hang the expense! Oh but we’ll just share a tonic at that price!
But not these days. Gin, once denigrated as mother’s ruin, is now one of the top trending drinks in the UK and more and more interesting gins are bursting or should that be spilling .. onto the market every few months. And it won’t surprise you that here in Moray with our fine whisky waters we have some great gins just waiting to be tasted. There’s El:gin https://elgin-gin.co.uk/ described as Cranachan in a glass; close to Ace Taxis home Gordon Castle has an award winning gin made with botanicals grown in their own garden https://gordoncastlescotland.com/; and Benromach’s Red Door Gin, launched only last year is described on their website as “delivering signature notes of juniper and a defining citrus note of bitter orange, with aromatic sea buckthorn, floral pearls of heather and chocolatey rowanberries’..sounds delicious. https://www.benromach.com/news/opening-the-red-door-to-gin.
Newest on the block is Eight Lands organic gin, by Glenrinnes Distillery. The name inspired by the view from the top of Ben Rinnes, Moray’s highest freestanding mountain. We say freestanding because in fact the border of Moray runs through Ben Macdui, the UK’s second highest mountain so whilst Ben Macdui is definitely the highest point in Moray, Moray only has a part of it. Ben Rinnes, at 2,733 ft is less than 300 ft short of a Munro (3000 ft) but qualifies as a Corbett. Whatever it’s called, it’s a fair climb to the top but the views are well worth the effort. On a clear day (there’s the rub) you can see over eight counties which is what gives this gin, brewed in a distillery at its foot its name.
The distillery only opened last year and is situated on a 6,000 acre family estate close to the River Spey, it is open to visits throughout the year but is a small distillery so please book ahead or better still (pun intended) book through Ace Tours and we can book a tour and if you wish also include another activity – climbing Ben Rinnes if you are up for it, or perhaps fishing/golf/stalking lunch and then a tour – sounds like a great Stag weekend (ha ..also pun intended) activity. We can take groups up to 8 in our comfortable vehicles and we do all the driving leaving you to enjoy the tour and of course any samples from the distillery. https://www.eight-lands.com/about
For all gins in the Moray area and beyond see: www.thescottishginsociety.com/map or individual websites where most have a facility to order online. Gordon MacPhail in South Street in Elgin www.gordonandmacphail.com/our-shop , the whisky shop www.whiskycastle.com/ and Spey Larder in Aberlour http://speylarder.com also stock most of the above.
Cheers!
