You can tell immediately that this is a well-crafted gin when opening the bottle for the first time. Nothing overpowers, nothing jolts. It smells like a quality gin. The batch size is small, at just 1,000 litres. The neutral spirit has vapourised through a Copper Berry Chamber containing the botanicals. This chamber looks a little like a round beehive, with trays of these botanicals ready to gently impart their aromas. With some experimentation we soon discovered that Caorunn’s distinctive aromatic flavour, created by infusing five locally foraged Celtic botanicals and six traditional gin botanicals in the world's only working Copper Berry Chamber, is perfectly complemented by the addition of sumptuous Perthshire raspberries to our infusion process. Disclosure: Sipping & Styling has previously collaborated with Crafty Distillery, although bought the bottle of their gin herself. Free sample bottle previously provided to From the Gin Shelf for review.

Julian Vallis says:“I like Achroous because of it breaking the mould by being a ‘sessionable’ gin with an Old Tom character, despite it having no added sugar. Just like the Caorunn you know and love Caorunn Scottish Raspberry is expertly handcrafted at Balmenach Distillery in the Scottish Highlands, in small batches of 1,000 litres at a time. Utilising Scotland’s unique natural resources, each drop of this delicious new gin is infused to perfection in our Copper Berry Chamber. Chair of the judging panel, Adam Hardie, Partner and Head of Food and Drink at Johnston Carmichael, said: “It continues to be a very tough and challenging year but many are not just surviving but excelling. While the original Caorunn Gin is one of Scotland’s best known and loved gins, it’s the recently launched Caorunn Raspberry that The Gin Shelf has selected as one of his top Scottish gins. If you think of a gin that has the smell of a malting floor and added juniper, this is Tobermory. Since I’m a whisky drinker, this is right up my street and Tobermory makes an absolutely excellent Martinez and Negroni that sort of become very Rob Roy and Boulevardier-like due to the whisky notes coming through.”As with many of the gins on our list, it uses a mix of foraged and bought-in botanicals. But unlike of the Scottish gins we’ve mentioned here, it features parsnip in the mix! Other notable botanicals inlude wood sorrel, rhubarb and birch sap. Based in Aberdeenshire, Little Brown Dog Spirits was founded by Andrew Smith and Chris Reid. Their flagship gin, LBD, is a newcomer to the Scottish gin scene, launching in May 2020. We began our journey to create something special for our 10-year anniversary some time ago and we were concerned with just one thing – the flavour. Here at Caorunn it’s all about flavour: natural raspberry sweetness with no messing about. So when we finalised the recipe for a crystal-clear gin that's infused with delicate raspberryflavour without the use of any additives or colours one thing was clear – our new flavoured gin was definitely not going to be pink! #NotPink

Launching in July 2018, King’s Hill Gin takes its name from a bet between King Robert the Bruce and Sir William ‘The Crusader’ Sinclair, which took place in the Pentland Hills, where the distillery is based. Made with 12 botanicals including the locally foraged gorse, heather, wild rosehip and elderflower.

The Botanist Gin

Created to celebrate Caorunn’s 10-year anniversary, the gin adds fresh raspberries to their famous copper berry chamber for the distillation. The ultimate award, Scottish Gin Distillery of the Year, was presented for a second year in a row to North Uist Distillery. They also collected the award for Best New Product of the Year for their Downpour Coast & Croft Gin. Barra natives, Michael and Katie Morrison founded Isle of Barra Distillers in 2017. Originally contract distilled, the husband and wife team realised their dream of bringing distilling to their remote and beautiful island home in 2019. Disclosure: free sample bottle previously provided to Nic’s Gin & Beer and From the Gin Shelf for review. Created by James Porteous, Achroous Gin has built a strong reputation as an exceptional Scottish Gin, culminating in winning double gold at the prestigious San Fransisco World Spirits Competition.