Clootie Dumpling Gin (500 ml)

Claire and Martin Murray launched Dunnet Bay Distillers in 2014 after testing 55 trial recipes across 80 botanicals — a deliberate, almost obsessive process that ended with a single world-first: Rhodiola rosea, an arctic root harvested from the sea cliffs directly surrounding the distillery, appearing in a gin for the first time anywhere.

That earthy, Turkish-delight-like root now anchors the entire flavour architecture.

The distillery sits above the two-mile white-sand arc of Dunnet Bay in Caithness, exposed to a sub-arctic coastal microclimate harsh enough to produce rare cliff-dwelling botanicals unavailable to any other producer. Five of the 18 botanicals — including rowan berries, blaeberries, and sea buckthorn — are locally grown or hand-foraged from this landscape.

Production runs through two bespoke 500-litre copper pot stills (Elizabeth and Margaret, built by John Dore & Co., the world's oldest still maker) using vapour infusion: botanicals sit in a basket through which vaporised wheat-base spirit passes, preserving volatile floral and fruit aromatics that direct maceration would destroy.

Cuts are made by nose. Each bottle is hand-filled, wax-sealed, and batch-numbered.

The Clootie Dumpling edition layers the core Rock Rose profile with warming spice botanicals — cinnamon, cardamom — evoking the traditional Scottish steamed pudding, a seasonal transgression from the distillery's maritime-botanical signature. Ready to drink immediately; no aging required.