Crafty recommends a slice of fresh mango as a garnish to complement the tropical notes already present, but I found it also works well with orange and grapefruit. Nestled on the edge of Newton Stewart our modern Scotch Whisky & Scottish Gindistillery has been producing award-winning spirits and experience since 2017. Come and say hello, visit our shop, join a tour and enjoy panoramic views over the mighty Galloway Hills. Read our Hills & Harbour gin review; a beautifully balanced gin from Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland.

In 2015 the planning permission for a piece of land in his hometown of Newton Stewart was made. This was finally approved in 2016, before the first bottle was distilled in June 2017. In 2008, everything changed in the gin category. Up until then a long-standing British excise law meant distillers couldn’t gain a licence for a still under 1,800 litres. But thanks to a petition by Sipsmith, the law which had stood since 1823 was amended and opened the floodgates to the category as we now know it, and the birth of craft gin. We see a huge future here, we want to be part of it and we urge you to also jump on this bandwagon and give them a helping hand where you can. There’s something more than just a little special about it all, that’s for certain and we hope they can continue to grow and evolve to be an established player in the UK industry. There’s a good reason why Crafty Distillery is awarded 5 stars on Trip Advisor and Visit Scotland. Come and see for yourself and book a one-of-a-kind tour.As a London Dry Gin, all the botanicals are added during the distillation process with “no essences, sweeteners or nonsense added post-production.” Craig Rankin explains. Given that it’s considerably more effort to make your own base spirit, and the fact the spirit is supposed to be tasteless, why bother? To build a grain-to-glass distillery takes time and planning, and that was certainly the case for Crafty. The idea was first planted in 2013 when Graham’s brother told him of a whisky distillery that was up for sale. This got him thinking about creating his own distillery. His dad, Bill, was a whisky lover and this is where his interest in spirits came from. At that point, Graham didn’t know too much about gin but continued to do his research on equipment and where to build.

With tonic, the greenness really comes to the fore – and the texture remains sublime. You really get the creaminess of that wheat spirit. As you add more tonic, Hills & Harbour becomes more citrus in flavour with the seaweed dialling down. For all gin fans out there, a very warm welcome awaits you at Crafty Distillery in gorgeous Galloway to join us on a unique tour for your taste buds, where we’ll also share the secrets of our process. From the off, it was always going to be a gin destination and visitor attraction to help showcase their home in southwest Scotland. Visitors can tour the distillery, experience a variety of events, or even go on a foraging tour of the hills and coast of the area. On the nose, the first impressions are quite vegetal and savoury - as if the seaweed was flaring out and yet if you linger for just a second, you’ll notice the soft citrus underneath as well as something more woody. Layered and intriguing. This gin was a bit of a find…and we’re delighted we’ve found it! We can see where the hills and harbour in the names comes from; a really novel set of botanicals that make Hills & Harbour stand out.It seemed pretty pointless to design the space around that glorious landscape if the views weren’t going to be shared with anyone but the distilling team, so Crafty Distillery was always designed to be a destination - something people drove out of their way to see. As such, the tasting room is expansive and inclusive – all chrome and copper on one side, trees and mountains on the other. Seaweed has been adopted by a number of British gin brands to add an umami tang to their gins. However, Taylor says he and his distillery manager Craig Rankin, a trained chef with high-end restaurant experience, view its savoury salinity in another way – through the lens of salt’s flavour-enhancing effect on the tastebuds. “It is amazing to me how many gins don’t use this science,” Taylor says. “It is really important to have that savoury quality going on because it enhances the flavour of the gin … if you don’t season something, you cannot open up the palate.” Graham Taylor, founder of Crafty Distillery. Credit: Crafty Distillery

In Australia, Harbour and Hills Financial Services Pty Limited is registered with Australian Securities and Investments Commission. In the US/Canada, we haven’t yet found supplier to link to for Hills & Harbour (sorry!) but why not try another gin from Drizly. Let us know if you find a supplier and we’ll add it.

The LIVE virtual tastings are carried out in the last week of the month. Please keep an eye on our socials for confirmed dates! Taylor is passionate about his artisanal grain-to-glass approach and creating spirits that reflect the place of their birth. The Gin Escape is his way of sharing that journey. “We were of the mindset that we really want to help people understand what provenance is and what craft really means. It is not driven by marketing – it is driven by taste, and coupling that with how we actually make our gin,” he explains. “It is a fun story of quality and provenance that I think is really exciting for a visitor, so they can leave a bit more enlightened. We have been unable to travel, so we are seeking more experiences, but especially now, people are wanting to know the story behind the brands in the cupboard: how they make it, the people and the process behind it.”

The gin tends not to be distilled straight away and Crafty always has some GNS ready for when gin distillation is required. Developing Hills & Harbour GIn

The selected botanicals are added to the pot the night before along with the painstakingly crafted GNS. The following morning, the other botanicals are added to the vapour basket and the still is turned on. The texture of the gin is like delicate silk – so smooth and creamy. That extra effort to make the grain spirit from scratch really does pay dividends and brings so much of Hills & Harbour’s delightful character. With tonic