Kintyre distillery goes from strength to strength

The Kintyre Gin team was thrilled to win the award for Excellence in Sustainability at the Scottish Gin Awards last week.

The distillery’s Tarbert Legbiter also won the High Strength Gin of the Year prize, while Kintyre Botanical Gin received a highly commended in the London Dry category during a hugely successful evening for the small distillery.

For the company, which is dedicated to keeping sustainability at the core of its business, the Excellence in Sustainability award is a wonderful acknowledgment, said the company.

Beinn an Tuirc Distillers Ltd was established following the installation of 100kw hydroelectric scheme on the Macalister Hall family estate where the business is located.

Beinn an Tuirc director Niall Macalister Hall was toasting the first kilowatts with a G&T when the seeds of an idea to create a Kintyre craft gin, distilled using sustainable hydro power, were sowed.

Fast forward four years and the company has gone from strength to strength, expanding the range and the team and building up the existing infrastructure to include a gin school and a café, both opening in spring 2020.

Future plans include low food miles for the café by cultivating as much as possible in the estate’s walled garden and the installation of an electric car charging port run from the hydroelectric scheme.

Director Kenny Macalister Hall said: ‘Sustainability is key to everything we do.

‘We are about to complete an extensive study of the carbon footprint of the distillery and Torrisdale Estate which concludes our family-owned business has a carbon negative footprint.

‘In essence, the carbon we sequestrate through our woodlands and renewable energy generation more than off-sets carbon use in the production of our gin.’