What a good gin!
They really are a smashing bunch of people, the Scottish Gin distillers and producers. Last week we reported on the rise of sustainability in Scottish Gin as more brands are taking steps to reduce their carbon footprint and plastic waste.
But there is also a whole range of Scottish Gins that do good, by supporting and promoting good causes, while producing very good gins.
At the Scottish Gin Society, we support a range of charities that are close to our hearts and we wanted to acknowledge some of the gin brands that do the same. So here’s our list of 9 Scottish Gins with a big heart:
GoodWill Gin
As the name suggests – this is a gin that does something great. Distilled in Scotland’s first-ever 100% community-owned distillery in Dingwall, GoodWill Gin came about from an amazing community response to a share offer. As a community-owned business, a percentage of the profits from the distillery are channelled back into community initiatives, as well as bringing jobs and tourism back to the town.
Spring Gin
A new social enterprise gin, distilled by the team at Edinburgh Gin, Spring Gin’s profits will support a fantastic local social enterprise venture. Edinburgh Food Social is a social enterprise that works with young people in the city, to help train and educate them in local, healthy and fresh food production, and over the past 3 years, they have drastically improved the outcomes for kids from multiple schools across Edinburgh. They recently launched a crowdfunding campaign with excellent rewards for donors, including bottles of Spring Gin.
Ginerosity
The original Social Enterprise Gin, Ginerosity was set up by a team of socially-minded business people, including the founders of Pickering’s Gin to enable gin lovers to enjoy a classic London Dry Gin, with the knowledge that profits from every bottle of Ginerosity sold will go towards helping some of society’s most vulnerable people, including supporting a charity that offers a lifeline to young homeless people by giving them training, education, support and mentorship.
Persie Dog Gins
Persie Distillery joined forces with PADS (Perthshire Abandoned Dogs Society) in 2018 as its dedicated charity partner with a commitment to support the team’s work in providing care and shelter for unwanted dogs. To support the charity, the dog-loving distillery released a series of ‘dog gins’ – where the breed is reflected in the gin! Choose from Labrador, Spaniel or Dachshund. For every bottle sold, they donate £1 to PADS.
Wild Gin
This is the latest launch from the Old Curiosity Distillery in Edinburgh, made using herbs native to The Flow Country, Europe’s largest blanket bog that covers 200,000 hectares in Caithness and Sutherland. Using this as inspiration, the new gin has been distilled with botanicals from Flow Country, which include sweet cicely, bog myrtle and dwarf birch. 20 per cent of all Wild Gin sales will be gifted to RSPB Scotland. The new gin can be tasted at a special event in Edinburgh’s Royal Botanic Gardens, before release in September
Tommy’s Gin
Brothers Thomas and Alistair Wilson, founders of Isle of Skye Distillery created the limited edition Tommy’s Gin in memory of their late father Tommy Wilson. Tommy served in the Suez invasion and passed away in late August 2016. ‘Tommy’ is also a generic name and term of endearment for a soldier. For every bottle of Tommy’s gin sold, proceeds are donated to local Military Charities.
Garden Shed
Conservation and sustainability are core values for the team behind Glasgow’s Garden Shed Gin. In recognition of the importance of both trees and bees to Scotland’s natural wildlife, they have teamed up with charities, Trees4Scotland and The Bumblebee Conservation Trust to support both through sales of their gin.
Arbikie AK’s Gin
Arbikie Distillery is owned and run by the Stirling brothers, who named the award-winning AK’s Gin after their father, Alex Kirkwood Stirling, who passed away from MND. In celebration of his life and in memory of his legacy to farming at Lunan Bay, they now donate £1 from every bottle of AK’s Gin to a MND charity.
St Abbs Lifeboat Gin
The Kelso Gin Company produced the limited batch St. Abbs lifeboat Gin made with foraged botanicals including local kelp from St. Abbs. The profits from this gin go to St. Abbs Independent Lifeboat Charity.
Life After Sport Gin
Finally, a limited-edition gin from Selkirk Distillers. Life After Sport Gin. Proceeds from the sale of this small batch gin go to Life After Sport, a charity set up with the aim of helping former Sportspeople deal with mental health issues.
So if you fancy a feeling of virtue with your next G&T, there are plenty of great Scottish Gins here to choose from that also do good. We wish them all the best with their charitable partnerships and raise a glass to all the Scottish Gin drinkers making a difference.
Please enjoy Scottish Gin responsibly.
