Are you ready for the Dunnet Bay Distillery Days? Ready to follow the stories of Martin, Claire and George? To clarify: The Dunnet Bay Distillery Days is a story in several chapters that I will bring on our blog. I'll take you to Scotland, to the Dunnet Bay Distillery and introduce you to the people/animal? behind the distillery. And ofcourse, I will also introduce you to the Gins produced in this distillery. Are you ready for this story? Then read on without any hesitation! To start the story, I would like to introduce you to Martin and Claire. Husband and wife. Together they set up this distillery in 2014. And they were not alone in this. They also had their faithful four-legged friend, George, who was always there to provide fun. Unfortunately George has passed away in the meantime, but a picture of this fantastic dog can still be found in the distillery. Martin, the brain behind this whole story first studied in Edinburgh. He studied Brewing and Distilling. But he hadn't immediately gone further with this, even though it was his dream. After his studies he first entered the oil industry. But Martin wanted to pursue his dream. And so the whole story started in 2011. The distillery, located in the north of Great Britain, has a beautiful setting with lots of fauna and flora around it. You can find Elizabeth in the distillery. Elizabeth is the name of the copper still in which the beautiful Rock Rose Gins are made. Martin takes care of Elizabeth. He constantly monitors the entire process and uses only the heart of the distillate. He removes head and tail to achieve the perfect flavour. Of course, Martin and Claire can't do everything themselves. The great success of the gin has also made the team bigger. You can also find Claire's mother in the distillery, she mainly takes care of the wax sealing of the bottles. Martin's father helps Claire's mother with this work. All numbers are carefully registered by Sarah. But besides accounting, she is also working on a lot of other things. You will also find Hanna, if she's not in the distillery, then it is around the distillery, where she takes care of the botanicals used in the Gin. Finally, there is also Laura, she will be found in the distillery for a guided tour for the visitors. They also activate Laura for events to present the Gin to gin-lovers. If there are no events then you often see her filling bottles, that's also very important. Maybe you are most curious about the product itself? The Rock Rose Gin is made with 18 botanicals. Of these, 5 have been grown locally. The name is a derivation of one of the botanical gardens called "Rhodiola Rosea". It reminds you of roses right away! And then you're immediately in the right direction, because they certainly have something to do with the Rock Rose Gin. To the distillate they add this delicate rose aroma, which gives a floral note to the Gin. For Martin and Claire one of the most important elements of the Gin. Together with the juniper, which is clearly present, it makes a big difference compared to other Gins on the market. Other botanicals that they use to make this Gin are blueberries, rowanberries, cardamom, coriander, verbena, sea buckthorn, etc. Also nice to know is that the first batch of this Rock Rose Gin was ready on August 17, 2014. Since then, this beautiful gin has won a lot of prizes and many other Gins have been added to the range! Hopefully this first day of the Dunnet Bay Distillery Day's was a pleasure to read for you and you look forward to the next one! Tomorrow we'll bring you the tasting notes and perfect serve of this first Rock Rose Gin. See you soon, Gintasticbelgium
