New Edinburgh distillery releases first gin

Spencerfield Spirit Company has launched the first batch of its Cannonball Navy Strength Gin, the first product to be released from its new Edinburgh Gin Distillery.

Spencerfield Spirits’ Cannonball Navy Strength Edinburgh Gin will be rolled out later this month

Having opened the distillery underneath the Rutland Hotel in Edinburgh this summer, Spencerfield has now made its first gin at the site, which is being bottled to ship across the UK and export markets from late September, although a small amount is available at the site’s Heads & Tales bar.

The 57% abv navy strength gin features double-strength juniper and “more than a pinch” of Szechuan pepper among its botanicals.

Cannonball Navy Strength Gin is the Edinburgh distillery’s first release created in partnership with Heriot-Watt University, which will see a line of historical products produced at the site.

Spencerfield Spirits founder Alex Nicol told The Spirits Business additional offerings may include an Old Tom, a lavender gin and a fruit gin further down the line.

“As a port town, Leith used to be really strong at producing orange and lemon gins,” he said. “We have an agreement with Heriot Watt for three years where we will be producing historic gin from Edinburgh from the 1700s onwards, which no-one’s done before.

“Then we have a project looking at historic gins and the best possible ways to distil one shot gins. It’s academic, historic and artisanal.”