The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Alyth distillery brings back the birch in ‘Wild Scotland’ spirit.
LAUNCH: Business brings back the birch with new spirit launched on the drinks market
Researching infectious diseases seems an unlikely grounding for launching a new Scottish spirit into a crowded market place.
But Dr Marian Bruce, whose “wild Scottish” drink is flavoured with Alythgrown birch trees, believes her academic background gives her new product the edge.
“The distillery is just a big laboratory so it’s somewhere that I’m comfortable working,” she said.
“But it’s different too, of course, it is a combination of doing science alongside developing flavours. We have the research background set up to test the product, but at the end of the day it’s about working out what flavours work best together.”
For the big launch, those flavours are: birch leaves, elder flowers and birch buds, harvested locally in the spring and packed into chest freezers in the converted farm come distillery Kirklandbank, a mile from Alyth.
Mother-of-two Dr Bruce, 53, hopes these “Scottish botanicals” will be enough to give her spirit the edge as the first batches leave the distillery
She said the recipe is a deliberate attempt to reconnect with Scotland’s forgotten past.
“We have strong links with Denmark and our boys both went to school there for a year. We realised they have a real connection with the landscape that we have lost in Scotland.”
Like the more famous maple tree, birch syrup is used in beer, wine and in natural health products. It is more commonly found in northern Europe.
Dr Bruce set up the business, Highland Boundary, with her husband Simon Montador, 52, a business consultant, who she met while they were both studying biology in Edinburgh.
They moved to Alyth 10 years ago and have developed their business – which also encompasses tourism and other sustainable products – after Dr Bruce took time away from her career as research scientist to raise her two sons.
They plan to produce 7,000 bottles in the first year from a small copper still in the converted dairy shed next to their home.
The business already employs one person, with ambitions to employ one more over the next two years.
Mr Montador said: “Our location is everything and being part of the local community. We would not have been able to get the project off the ground without local trades and other support. Perthshire has a great heritage and we wanted to be part of that.”
Perthshire North MSP John Swinney attended the product launch.
He said small artisan distilleries had an important role to play is creating growth in rural areas.
“Marian and Simon are incredibly passionate about their work, and I am confident that their first spirit will serve as a fitting tribute to both Scotland and their local community of Alyth.”