We are often asked why we don’t stock a wide range of Scottish Gin’s on the Crafty Connoisseur website, or when we are at a face to face events.
The UK gin market is saturated with all types of gin, from liqueurs to London Dry, to the totally outrageous “gimmick” gins.
A lot of distilleries also have their own websites and sell their gins there.
Our ethos is to look for something different, something special, and everyone now and then we find a homegrown product that is just that.
On an impulse, in February we booked a trip to the Orkney Islands. We had always wanted to go and it would be a good break for us. As it happened it became a bit of a busman’s holiday.
We visited a few of the distilleries there (Deerness, J Gow Rum and Orkney Distillery), which I highly recommend, but we also caught up with our friends at the Orkney Gin Company. We met Andrea, Gary and Erin at a few of the Gin Fayres we all attended, but got to know them better when we shared a table at the very first Scottish Gin Awards back in 2018.
It was such a pleasure to visit them on their home turf and see their distillery first hand. We had already tried a few of their products but had not stocked them as we did not want to encroach on their sales.
After a cuppa and a chat we soon put that issue to bed and were introduced to Aatta Gin which was launched in September 2021.
For those historians amongst you or Netflix fans, Aatta is old Norse for “Eight”. The gin itself has “eight” botanicals and is distilled an impressive “eight” times.
The bottles design is superb and has already won multpile awards at the 2022 World Gin Awards.
When you get past the uniuqe design and shape of the bottle you see the “Selkie Wife” which also forms part of the distillerie’s logo.
Let’s get to the really important part, the gin itself. With Orange, Cinammona and Vanilla comprising three of the eight botnicals, I was pretty sure I would be in for a pleasurable experience. Even with my dodgy palette, I was sure I would taste something nice, and I wasn’t wrong.
It was such a smooth tasting gin, so full of flavour that I did not want to put any tonic in it, in fact I didn’t. I really enjoy sipping gins because I feel you get a full 100% experience. Don’t get me wrong, it does go really well with a nice tonic and a slice of orange, but I had mine’s neat.
It most recently received Gold at the London Spirit Awards. With 771 entries, Gin was the largest category in the competition. Aatta not only won Gold but scored the highest equal score of 93 points of all the UK gins.
I am always impressed by the dedication and the quality of production from small batch, craft distilleries that is just not there with some of the larger, more automated ones. It’s almost as if you are getting that really personal touch from the distillers themselves, just for you.
Needless to say that we did not leave the distillery empty handed and have since made a number of repeat orders due to its popularity. Over the past months we have been able to get back out to markets and country fairs to allow the Crafty Nation to try this superb gin from themselves.
So, if you would like to try some of this superb, award winning, Scottish Gin. Then check out our events page to see where we are next or better still, why not book a personal bespoke tasting, either online of face to face. If you have already tried and are looking to re-stock, then take advantage of our superb shipping offers and re-stock now.
