Scotland pioneering ingin market

Wemyss family involvement in the drinks industry extends back centuries

It seems as if people can’t get enough of gin at the moment.

We are in the midst of a boom – a “ginaissance”’ as some are calling it – and Scotland is leading the field.

It’s now more than seven years since we first introduced Darnley’s Original Gin to the market.

We had an idea back then to create something new and different for gin lovers.

We started with elderflower, inspired by the abundance of these plants growing wild at my ancestral home, Wemyss Castle in Fife.

We used traditional techniques, juniper and a London dry style to give a classic gin and then we added notes such as coriander and lemon peel to create a fresh, floral and vibrant flavour.

When it came to the name, we turned to our family history.

Before it was Darnley’s, our gin was called Darnley’s View, referring to a moment in history at Wemyss Castle.

It was here, from a castle window, that Mary Queen of Scots first spotted her husband-to-be, Lord Darnley.

We named our gin in honour of this historic Scottish occasion.

The roots of Darnley’s Gin go back much further than seven years, however.

The Wemyss family has been running wines and spirits businesses for more than two centuries – from our French vineyards to our Wemyss malts and recently-launched single malt distillery at Kingsbarns.

We used all our family’s skill and passion to create Darnley’s Gin and over the years it has built a reputation for exceptional quality and taste.

Since then we have added our popular spiced gin to the range – a delicious and very distinctive spirit, inspired again by the Wemyss family and their sense of adventure.

As its popularity grew, especially within the cocktail scene, we decided to create a bolder navy strength version with the same botanicals, adding more juniper and an increased proof of 57.1%,

We have been thrilled to see demand for our gins grow in markets all over the world.

We had teamed up with a very skilled and specialist distillery in London to produce Darnley’s Gin to our recipe from the outset.

However, having established our whisky distillery at home in Fife, I had a hankering to bring our gin production back to Scotland when the time was right.

That time was this summer and we are about to start making our gin in-house – or rather, in a little cottage on the grounds of Kingsbarns that had previously been derelict.

It just feels like the right thing for our business, given our roots and heritage and our passion for making the highest-quality spirits for people to enjoy.

It was a proud day for all of us in July when we welcomed our first guests to the new distillery.

Our gin distiller, Fife local Scott Gowans, is responsible for crafting the gin, and he will have plenty of scope to experiment and craft future additions to the range.

Given the distillery’s location near St Andrews and Fife’s growing food and drink tourism scene, we have created some visitor tours to offer guests an intriguing behind the scenes experience of the gin – its production, heritage, taste and the role botanicals play in the flavour of each Darnley’s Gin expression.

There is so much interest these days in where food and drink come from and how it’s made, so it’s very exciting to be able to welcome guests to Kingsbarns throughout the year.

There has never been a better time to be in the gin business.

There is, of course, a lot of competition, but I’m so proud of the way in which Scotland has taken our centuries of skill in world-class spirit making to pioneer this new market.

It’s incredible to think that 70% of the gin consumed in the UK is now produced north of the border.

We’ve shaken up the category in a very positive way, creating a new generation of gin bars, connoisseurs and enthusiasts.

We celebrated a milestone this month with Darnley’s Spiced Gin, which is now on sale at every Marks & Spencer store across Scotland.

It’s another proud moment in our company’s history, and we hope to continue to grow and be a leader in this exciting movement – now and in the future. Top: Gin distiller Scott Gowans. Right: William Wemyss