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The lovely folk at Crafty Distillery are definitely not suggesting anybody should drink hard liquor 24/7. However, they have created a vodka that’s great at any time of the day… The gin tends not to be distilled straight away and Crafty always has some GNS ready for when gin distillation is required. Developing Hills & Harbour GIn In the US/Canada, we haven’t yet found supplier to link to for Hills & Harbour (sorry!) but why not try another gin from Drizly. Let us know if you find a supplier and we’ll add it. Crafty recommends a slice of fresh mango as a garnish to complement the tropical notes already present, but I found it also works well with orange and grapefruit. As a London Dry Gin, all the botanicals are added during the distillation process with “no essences, sweeteners or nonsense added post-production.” Craig Rankin explains.
The air is crisp and green. An autumnal carpet crunches under my boots as I trek up the hill, following my guide, Crafty Distillery founder Graham Taylor, through the Galloway Forest. We’re making for a patch of noble firs from which the distillery harvests fresh cones for its award-winning Hills & Harbour Gin. Taylor explains, “It’s not a common tree in the forest, but it is one that is easy to spot, because [the cones] grow upwards rather than downwards.” We see a huge future here, we want to be part of it and we urge you to also jump on this bandwagon and give them a helping hand where you can. There’s something more than just a little special about it all, that’s for certain and we hope they can continue to grow and evolve to be an established player in the UK industry. There’s a good reason why Crafty Distillery is awarded 5 stars on Trip Advisor and Visit Scotland. Come and see for yourself and book a one-of-a-kind tour. Taylor is passionate about his artisanal grain-to-glass approach and creating spirits that reflect the place of their birth. The Gin Escape is his way of sharing that journey. “We were of the mindset that we really want to help people understand what provenance is and what craft really means. It is not driven by marketing – it is driven by taste, and coupling that with how we actually make our gin,” he explains. “It is a fun story of quality and provenance that I think is really exciting for a visitor, so they can leave a bit more enlightened. We have been unable to travel, so we are seeking more experiences, but especially now, people are wanting to know the story behind the brands in the cupboard: how they make it, the people and the process behind it.”
The texture of the gin is like delicate silk – so smooth and creamy. That extra effort to make the grain spirit from scratch really does pay dividends and brings so much of Hills & Harbour’s delightful character. With tonic Read our Hills & Harbour gin review; a beautifully balanced gin from Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland. Graham’s dad was a builder and built the distillery. The design uses many local materials and looks out onto a beautiful view of Galloway Hills. This gin was a bit of a find…and we’re delighted we’ve found it! We can see where the hills and harbour in the names comes from; a really novel set of botanicals that make Hills & Harbour stand out. Is it size? Is it the process? Is it being done by hand (as far as gin can be)? I don’t think anyone really knows anymore. Gin Foundry discusses what craft is (and what it’s not) more succinctly than I ever could and I’m here to talk about Hills & Harbour, so that debate is for another time.
A mixture of steep/boil and vapour infusion techniques are used and which botanicals go where (pot or basket) is one of the few closely guarded secrets in the entire process. This behind-the-scenes look at its gin making exemplifies what Crafty Distillery has been about since opening in 2017: namely, craft. It is one of only around a dozen gin distilleries in Scotland and England to make its own base spirit, which is distilled from locally grown wheat. As well as gin, this spirit is used to make Crafty’s 24 Seven Vodka and the soon-to-be-released Billy & Co whisky (named after Taylor’s late father, William, who built the distillery). Inside the Crafty Distillery. Credit: Crafty Distillery
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In 2015 the planning permission for a piece of land in his hometown of Newton Stewart was made. This was finally approved in 2016, before the first bottle was distilled in June 2017.
Nestled on the edge of Newton Stewart our modern Scotch Whisky & Scottish Gindistillery has been producing award-winning spirits and experience since 2017. Come and say hello, visit our shop, join a tour and enjoy panoramic views over the mighty Galloway Hills. To create Hills & Harbour Gin, it took over 14 months and 90 different recipes to get close to their final product.He was getting ahead of himself at this point, though, as he didn’t yet have a distillery, nor even the land on which to build one. Before too long, though, that was sorted. Graham’s dad, Billy, is a builder, and a pretty good one at that. He’d spotted a piece of land offering uninterrupted views of the Galloway Hills that just so happened to fit into the budget. It was theirs for the taking, so they set to work designing a distillery, making sure it was one that didn’t just respect the land, but took full advantage of it, offering gorgeous, never-ending countryside views. On the nose, the first impressions are quite vegetal and savoury - as if the seaweed was flaring out and yet if you linger for just a second, you’ll notice the soft citrus underneath as well as something more woody. Layered and intriguing.
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