Kirkjuvagr Orkney Gin
The Scottish Gin brand that came 4th in last years’ Consumer Choice Awards was Kirkjuvagr Orkney Gin, which is hand-crafted in small batches by the Orkney Distillery, situated right on the harbour front of Kirkwall, Orkney. Their unique and stunning location gives them the inspiration to create a range of gins that capture the true spirit of Orkney.
Kirkjuvagr means “Church Bay” in Old Norse and was the ancient name for the island’s capital, Kirkwall.
And while the wonderful name, Kirkjuvagr Orkney Gin, reflects the island’s rich history, the character of the gin is utterly contemporary and has been crafted with the modern, discerning gin enthusiast in mind.
It is, quite simply, unmistakably Orcadian.
When the team discovered a local legend of a variety of Angelica being brought to the islands by Norsemen centuries ago, and that can still be found growing wild today, they added it to their list of botanicals for creating Kirkjuvagr Orkney Gin.
In their impressive distillery and visitors centre at Kirkwall Harbour, the Orkney Distilling team handcraft their range of gins in small batches using traditional copper stills in a process defined by passion, commitment and attention to detail.
And if you decide to pay a visit to Orkney, you can be sure of a warm welcome by the passionate team of gin-lovers. Take a tour, sample the gin, create your own and relax and enjoy the amazing view.
We spoke to the founder, Stephen Kemp to see what this year holds for them and how they felt about being ranked 4th in our poll last year:
We have lots in store this year! Just this week, Orkney has been named as the best place to live in Scotland for the 8th year in a row! We of course agree with this wholeheartedly, and are confident that wonderful news stories like this will encourage further growth of our Distillery visitor numbers this season. We’re working on a couple of exciting new product launches during the year, and we also continue to grow our exports, working with Partners in a number of territories, including China, Japan, Canada, Italy and Denmark. We hope to begin export to the US within the coming year also.
We launched Beyla, our Old Tom style pink gin last June, and it is a key product for us now, with sales growing steadily within that category.
We always look to the summer here in Orkney at this time of year, and we feel that this will be a really exciting season for us in 2020, with all that we have planned!
It was an enormous privilege to receive so much support in the 2019 Consumer Choice Awards! We’re incredibly lucky that we have such a wonderful customer base, and it really rewards all of the Team for their continuous hard work in relation to developing the Brand!
Good luck to all the Scottish Gins in this years’ poll!
