THE community-owned distillery, GlenWyvis – which traces its history back to Forbes of Culloden and the Jacobites and is believed to be the world’s first-ever community-owned distillery – has released a new limited collection of GlenWyvis Gin.
The ‘Edinburgh Collection’ celebrates four unique, local communities in the capital, to help bring the tradition of distilling back to the Highland community of Dingwall where the distillery is being built.
The four limited-edition gin bottles celebrate local landmarks in Stockbridge, Old Town, New Town and Morningside and have been released to mark St Andrew’s Day and the strength of community that underpins the GlenWyvis story.
With over 2,600 founding members – contributing some £2.6 million to the distillery’s fundraising effort, including many hundreds from Edinburgh – the GlenWyvis Distillery will be a new landmark for the Highlands of Scotland and for community ownership.
GlenWyvis Gin is made in Shetland from nine botanicals that include Hawthorn berries sourced at the distillery site and is a classic gin characterised by a fresh, clean, citrus finish.
The distillery is being built on land donated by the ‘flying farmer’, John F. McKenzie, who is the founder and managing director of GlenWyvis.
John said: “We are excited to release this special edition gin for St Andrew’s Day in Edinburgh, as part of our marketing push to raise awareness of our brand and build our audience engagement whilst the distillery is still under construction.
“Our GlenWyvis ‘Edinburgh Collection’ with its local community-themed labels celebrates the combined efforts of all the investors, not least those from Edinburgh itself, who have helped us create three full-time jobs, to date, with other part-time positions created in the run-up to Christmas.
“It is the contribution of our community members from all over the world that will help create the very first Scottish-owned, community-owned, green-powered malt whisky distillery.”
And John added: “A community approach is at the heart of all we do – so our limited-edition gin is also designed to bring hyper-local appeal to gin aficionados in the city to trigger further interest in our project in the Highlands.
“In due course, we hope to extend the appeal of GlenWyvis to encourage our members, visitors and new followers to visit the Highlands and the distillery in Dingwall as part of an overall whisky tourism experience.”
Recognised as the UK’s most successful ever community crowd-funded project, GlenWyvis is being built to bring distilling back to a Highland town with historic whisky roots stretching back to Ferintosh distillery and Forbes of Culloden in the 17th century.
It was the loss of Ferintosh that Robert Burns lamented in verse, and the new distillery also honours two other local distilleries both of which closed in 1926 – Glenskiach and Ben Wyvis; the latter named after the mountain that provides a dramatic backdrop for GlenWyvis.
GlenWyvis will also be the first distillery to be 100 per cent powered by renewable energy.
Solar, hydro, wind and biomass energy facilities are all already installed on the site and these will underpin the green credentials of this innovative craft distillery.
Formed as a Community Benefit Society, GlenWyvis aims to play a key role in the social and environmental reinvigoration of Dingwall.
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