Nc'nean is a small distillery located in Scotland on the Sound of Mull, with views across the water to the island of Mull. Its position is pretty much as far west as you can go on mainland Scotland, and what with the various lochs and estuaries that penetrate the landscape, this makes Nc'nean a bit of an adventure to get to.
Nc'nean was setup by Annabelle Thomas, whose family owns the farmland where the distillery is situated. Production began in 2017 and while Nc'nean waited for whisky to mature they did something that many other whisky distilleries have done, which is to release a gin.
Except it wasn't a gin. With a base of new-make (un-aged) whisky, Nc'nean botanical spirit sits somewhere between whisky and gin and we think it really works!
The approach here is organic, sustainable, tasty.
They use only organic Scottish barley, the products are bottled in 100% recycled clear glass, they recycle 99.97% of their waste, and the distillery powered by renewable energy. That renewable energy comes in the form of wood, sourced from in and around the estate. You might not think of burning wood as a particularly sustainable practice, but it turns out that cutting down and burning big old tress and then planting new ones (which Nc'nean do in partnership with Highland Carbon) actually captures more CO2 than it produces.
Throw in a super-efficient biomass boiler and you understand why it is that Nc'nean have been officially verified as net zero carbon emissions - a first for a UK distillery.
Nc'nean Botanical Spirit uses a total of ten botanicals, six of them being fairly traditional gin flavours (juniper, coriander, angelica, liquorice, chamomile, grapefruit) and then four locally foraged plants: bog myrtle, thyme, sorrel, heather. Expect to find peppery, spirituous, spice, with cereal notes. Faint herbal aromas and a touch of blackcurrant and other dark fruits.
This gin is excellent with tonic water, but we also encourage you to use it in your favourite classic gin cocktails too, like a martini, martinez, clover club, holland house...
