Close Menu
Top 10

A visit to Glenrinnes Distillery

Beneath the towering Ben Rinnes mountain in Speyside sits Glenrinnes Distillery, ready to make its mark on the Scotch whisky region with its award-winning gin and vodka. SB travelled north to pay a visit.

Glenrinnes: The latest distillery to open in Speyside, Scotland

Boasting 5,400 square-feet of space, Glenrinnes Distillery officially launched its inaugural products last month – Eight Lands Organic Speyside Gin and Eight Lands Organic Speyside Vodka.

Co-founded by Alex Christou and his step-father, Alasdair Locke, the duo has big plans for the Eight Lands range and hopes that in three years’ time, 70% of sales will be to international markets.

The name ‘Eight Lands’ was inspired by the peak of Ben Rinnes, which looks out across eight counties that can be seen on a clear day.

To celebrate the distillery’s opening, last month The Spirits Business was invited to Scotland to have a look around the newest Speyside spirits producer.

Click through the following pages to see what SB got up to while visiting Glenrinnes Distillery.

L-r: Katrina Stewart, Alex Christou and Meeghan Murdoch

Meeghan Murdoch, operations manager, and Katrina Stewart, distiller, are the Canadian powerhouse behind Glenrinnes’ Eight Lands range. The pair offered a fountain of knowledge about spirits production and the Eight Lands range as they guided us around the distillery.

Murdoch brings years of experience in distilling, brewing and winemaking to the team, and Stewart, who studied chemical engineering as her first degree, recently graduated with an MSc in brewing and distilling from Heriott Watt University.

The distillery boasts a 1,000-litre pot still, called Rebecca after Christou’s wife, as well as an air compression system, separate filters for the vodka and gin, five maceration tanks, a condenser and two 10-plate column stills. A semi-automated bottling and labelling line offers further control over production.

Glenrinnes Distillery has turned spirits production in Speyside on its head by opting to create a Scottish gin and vodka as opposed to Scotch whisky, which the region is famous for.

Eight Lands Organic Speyside Gin is made with 11 different botanicals, including cowberries and sorrel sourced from the Glenrinnes estate. Two types of juniper go into making Eight Lands gin, Albanian and Hungarian, and other botanicals include coriander, orris root, cardamom, camomile, cassia bark, lemon and lime.

The gin has been bottled at 46% abv and costs RRP £39 (US$50) per 700ml bottle. Eight Lands is already proving its quality credentials after securing a Master medal in Ultra Premium round of The Gin Masters 2019 blind-tasting competition, plus Golds in the London Dry and Organic contingents.

Eight Lands Organic Speyside Vodka is made from malted barley and malted wheat, and is distilled through all 20 plates. It is bottled at 42% abv and has an RRP of £37 (US$47) per 700ml.

At the heart of the brand’s ethos is the use of organic ingredients at every stage of the production process. Both the gin and vodka are made with spring water drawn from the Clashmarloch spring near the bottom of Ben Rinnes.

After touring the facilities and learning more about the production processes behind the gin and vodka, it was time to sample the products. After enjoying a Speyside Highball – Eight Lands vodka, amontillado Sherry, tonic water and garnished with a lemon slice – we were treated to the Eight Lands vodka ‘signature serve’ – frozen Eight Lands vodka served neat with a scone, topped with clotted cream and bramble jam. An utterly delicious combination.

A quick refresh at the Craigellachie Hotel and it was back in a cab and on to the next activity. The evening’s proceeding kicked off with a pre-dinner cocktail hour in the greenhouse at the Glenrinnes Estate Home. It was then onto the distillery for a dinner overlooking the lush green hillsides surrounding Speyside.

Of the numerous signature serves created for Eight Lands vodka is the Count to Infinity (pictured above). A take on the classic Negroni. For those who like a bitter kick in the cocktails, this tipple is made with Eight Lands vodka, Campari, Braemble Liqueur and topped with orange zest.

Other creations include the Eight Leaf Clover, made with Eight Lands Gin, Discarded Vermouth, lemon juice, sugar syrup, raspberries, egg white and topped with a few drops of Angostura Bitters.

The following day took us to the estate’s deer farm to help us garner a better understanding of the distillery’s organic ethos. Stags Henry and Alfie were keen to say hello and greedily munched carrots out of our hands.

The last stop of the trip was a high one – the top of Ben Rinnes. After a bumpy ride to the top, thankfully, the weather gods were on our side so we could see the eight lands that inspired the brand’s name.

At the end of the visit, I was curious to know if the distillery has plans to move into whisky given its Speyside location.

“Growing up here with this wonderful whisky heritage, world-class brands, some of which have 100-plus years of history, it never seemed like a natural thing to consider because we don’t have that heritage and partly because there are so many people doing it around here,” explained co-founder Christou. “Why not offer something different? We are much more focused on producing world-class white spirits. I think Eight Lands will remain a white spirits brand. In time, we might look at doing something different, something related to whisky.

“But for now, Eight Lands should be synonymous with white spirits.”

It looks like you're in Asia, would you like to be redirected to the Drinks Business Asia edition?

Yes, take me to the Asia edition No