Tyree Gin, 70 cl

Product Information

Myself and my business partner are very into the local history - we love reading about the island’s written historical accounts and one of the things I discovered was that between 1790 and 1791 there were 157 people caught distilling illegally, and one in every ten was evicted from their croft or holding. We thought this history was fascinating - there were hundreds of years of history of whisky production on the island - and we thought, why has nobody tried to revive that?” Tiree Whisky Company is the producer of Tyree Gin and Hebridean Pink Gin, both of which are handcrafted and bottled on the Inner Hebridean Isle of Tiree. There was also a long-standing concern about a rise in drunkenness on the island, which the authorities linked with the number of stills. James Turnbull had reported in his Statistical Account of 1768: "The people drink more than they would do, which is a means of spoiling their morals and keeping them idle." We’ve had a number of obstacles to overcome over the years, in particular when it came to establishing the distillery on the island. As mentioned, our distillery is based in West Hynish in Tiree, which is one of the most remote corners of the island (on an already remote island!).

Being neighbours and having played with Trail West at the Bruichladdich Distillery on a few occasions, Tyree Gin’s Ian Smith now asks The Botanist Gin… The sign of a true craft gin is that no two batches will ever be exactly the same, and this can be said of el:gin, a Scottish Gin, distilled in small batches in the northeast of Scotland, each batch distilled with hand-chosen, local botanicals. Beinn an Tuirc Distillers, South Loch Gin and Linlithgow Distillery also won multiple taste medals.By 1801, the chamberlain still spoke of "spirits, to which the natives are much addicted." That same year, however, 157 islanders were found guilty of illegal distilling; in addition to a court fine, the new chamberlain, Dr McLaurin, was instructed to evict one in ten offenders as a warning. The Duke went further, demanding that all barley not needed for food should be sent directly to him at Inveraray Castle. Ten years after the legal distilleries had been set up, "none could be found on the island willing to undertake the distilling in a legal way" and by 1802 the duke pulled the plug completely: "The barley to be exported as last year, and no distilling permitted."

Launching in stores from the 26 May, the Scottish gin festival features a range of twelve spirits, including four expertly mixed, ready-to-drink cans, that offer gin lovers floral and fruit drinks that are ideal for warmer weather. was a big year for Trail West too as it is our 10th Anniversary. We’re hoping our first headline show in the Barrowlands in Glasgow in September still goes ahead so we’re keeping all of our fingers and toes crossed! The plan is to have a quieter year with the band next year and things should be more manageable then… Hopefully!” Every day at the gin school we see creative individuals and guide them, working with hundreds of different botanicals to distil something amazing for them, to suit their own style and palate. Would all the recipes appeal to me, perhaps not, though I’d give most a go, but we all have our go-to styles and if we can help people create something special for them, then that is the joy of being an experience provider! Tyree (the old spelling of Tiree) Gin was created to celebrate the stunning landscape where it is distilled. Produced using Kelp harvested from the icy waters and a range of botanicals from the machair ground inland from the shore of the island combined with juniper, water-mint and angelica, this is a fresh, pure island spirit. Coming homeInspired by the White-tailed eagles which have given the Isle of Mull its name of Eagle Island, the award-winning Whitetail Gin is handcrafted at the island’s first distillery in over 220 years in a traditional copper-pot still named Penny. They produced a sample gin using the botanicals we’d sourced and after a couple of tweaks, we finalised the recipe. We then officially launched at Tiree Music Festival 2017.

How do the two of you manage to find enough time to run the business, make gin and at the same time touring and playing with your band Trail West? And now, after eighteen months of contract distilling in London by Thames Distillers. The company is celebrating the release of the first island-distilled batch of Tyree Gin. Sales of the London-distilled gin helped to fund the renovation of an industrial shed in West Hynish in the southwest of the island and a 250-litre G-Still was installed there in late 2018. Isle of Bute Gin’s small-batch spirits take inspiration from where it’s made, the quaint Scottish island of Bute, each bottle crafted with care in the heart of Rothesay using a traditional copper still. In the highly sought-after taste competition, 11 Gold Medals were presented with Edinburgh Gin collecting two gold medals. Our distillery has now been operational for just over a year and continues to go from strength to strength. We had hoped to open to the public and offer tours this year but this has been put on hold for now, like everything else! We feel as though the island’s distilling history isn’t widely known about so this heritage will be an important part of our tours and we are looking forward to sharing this story with locals and visitors to the island once things return to some kind of normal.Distilled with passion, it launched its first award-winning signature gin, which captures the flavour of the Cairngorms. Tyree Gin (40% ABV)includes wild flowers such as eyebright, ladies bedstraw and water mint among its botanicals; all of which are all sustainably sourced from the fertile machair along the island’s coastline. Having the gin produced elsewhere but using local ingredients helped fund the renovation of an industrial shed in West Hynish in the southwest of the island and in February 2019, after a break of 217 years, Tiree was once again home to an operational distillery. I have a very keen interest in local history and one thing that kept on popping up while doing various research projects on aspects of Tiree’s history was the amount of distillers that operated on the island between the 18th and 19th Centuries (both legally and illicitly!).