We are sure by now you'll have noticed the rising interest in Scottish gin and you might be a little curious yourself.
Well there's never been a better time to get involved and see what all the fuss is about.
With this in mind we've set out to find the best ways for you to discover and enjoy Scottish gin.
1. Distil your own with Strathearn distillery
What better way to learn about gin than to distil your own? The wonderfully unique Strathearn distillery is one of Scotland's newest micro-distilleries and one of the only ones that actually offers visitors a chance to join in. Strathearn will teach you about what ingredients are required and how the process works and once you've finished you can even take the gin you've spent time lovingly creating home with you.
You can keep it light and spend an afternoon making and enjoying gin or go hard and spend the entire day with the distillery team learning everything about the gin making process from choosing botanicals to bottling the gin itself.
The Half day Gin Making Experience costs £65 per person, generally with a maximum of 8 people, while the Full Day Gin Making Experience costs £145 per person, with a maximum of 3 people.
Strathearn distillery. Picture: Strathearn
2. Join a club and attend tastings with the Gin Club Scotland
If that all seems like a little too much effort and you'd rather just get straight to tasting the stuff, then perhaps joining a club might be a better option. The Gin Club Scotland offers a great place to taste gins in a relaxed atmosphere, all with the guiding hand of an expert who has access to 80-100 gins for you to choose from. Better yet, the club will come to you, providing private tastings for you and your friends from just £10 a head.
Gin Club Scotland. Picture: Contributed
3. Celebrate World Gin Day with the Scottish Juniper festival
Why not enjoy the wonders of gin with other people like you, who are keen to learn more about this wonderful drink? Well, you can by celebrating World gin day with the Scottish Juniper festival at Summerhall in Edinburgh. This festival of all things gin will be spread over three days, with four sessions offering beginners and aficionados alike the chance to sample dozens of gins, attend talks, tour the Summerhall distillery itself and best of all actually talk to the people who make the gin. Launched in 2014 to great success, the event in 2015 is sure to be great fun, tickets cost £21.50 and are available here.
Scottish Juniper Festival. Picture: Summerhall
4. Try some of the best gins in one of Scotland's excellent gin bars
Gin has recently overtaken vodka in popularity in the UK and this has led to an explosion of small batch gin being produced in Scotland. Luckily, there's a plethora of great new bars offering a place to enjoy these new gins while soaking up some great atmosphere. Perfect for surprising your partner with a date night or simply enjoying with your friends there's no shortage of places to go. We recommend the excellent new Gin 71 in Glasgow, resplendent with 71 gins - hence the name - and homebrewed tonics and gin flights, or the Jolly Botanist in Edinburgh which offers over 70 gins in wonderful Victorian style surroundings.
Gin 71 in Glasgow. Picture: Gin 71
5. Buy some bottles of your own to try with the Good Spirits Co.
Sometimes all you want to do is buy some gin and squirrel it away in your den for you to try when you're good and ready. Well we have that covered too. The Good Spirits Co. in Glasgow's Hope street, offers some of the best of Scotland's gin at great prices but more importantly, they have knowledgeable staff on hand to ensure get the very best advice possible on what gin will be best for you.
The Good Spirits Co. Picture: Good Spirits Co.
All that remains to wish you luck on what is sure to be an enjoyable journey into Scottish gin fandom.
