I was very kindly sent a bottle of Fidra Gin to review. After following their progress online for some time I was delighted to have the opportunity to test it out and also speak to the creators Jo and Emma.
Fidra Gin is made in small batches using 6 botanicals. The sea buckthorn and rosehip they forage themselves. The lemon thyme is grown locally at Archerfield Walled Garden and they are hoping to get their thyme from there shortly. They are continuing their search for Scottish juniper and hope to use locally foraged elderflower soon too.
Fidra is a small ialand off the Lothian coast that inspired the creators with the tales of smuggling and treasure. The artwork on the bottle is beautiful and the bottle itself was a real draw for me. Slim and elegant with beautiful lettering and that map!
With provenance being so important it may surprise you to know that they don’t actually own their own distillery. They do something known in the industry as contract distilling. This is where they take their ingredients and use the expertise as well as equipment at another distillery to produce their gin for them. This is a whole lot more common than you may think but what is realy unusual is the fact that Fidra don’t hide it.
1. Can you tell me a bit about the women behind the gin? How did you get into the industry? Why gin? Past experience? Are you the only owners?
We purchased a 5 litre still called Sadie and started trying out different combinations of botancials. Doing this made us realise we only wanted to use botancials we could pick or grow ourselves, hence the final recipe.
We met Walter by chance at the gin awards and Jo and I didn’t want to take any loans or get ourselves into debt by buying stills and kit as we didn’t know if people would actually like our gin! Walter suggested contract distilling to start with to see how we got on. We class ourselves at the moment as a Scottish coastal gin using East Lothian botanicals.
4. How many bottles are you producing?
We produce 250 approx bottles per batch and we are now on batch 9 – we launched September 2018.
5. Do you have any tastings, festivals or events lined up?
6. Future plans for Fidra?
So here you can really get a glimpse of a gin company from the ground up. You can follow their journey over on Instagram @fidragin and also on their website https://fidragin.com
Thanks so much to Jo and Emma for their time and for being so open and honest.
The Gin
On the nose this gin gives away it’s coastal roots with a salty tang that is mellowed by a herbyness from the rosehip. You do get the juniper but not as much as I expected.
The initial flavour is quite restrained, you pick up a citrus note from the lemon thyme and a beautiful sweetness comes through from the elderflower. When mixed with a tonic the juniper starts to build.
Left with a really nice aftertaste it is fresh but I wouldn’t say crisp. Definitely one of the more mellow gins I have had in a while. If you take time to work with a few tonics you can find they bring out different flavours in this gin.
I prefered it neat with ice, it is a great sipping gin, or just a splash of light Merchants Heart tonic.
This gin isn’t quite punchy enough to become one of my favourites, I like my gins a bit drier with lot more junper bite. But this is a delicate and very well crafted gin. I think if you enjoy the finish of Caorunn this will appeal. Layered flavours and a subtle sweet tongue.
I was gifted a bottle of Fidra Gin in exchange for a review. All thoughts are my own.
Again many thanks to Fidra Gin for the opportunity to test out their product. I wish them lots of luck for the exciting times they have ahead as as they forge on with their own distillery.
Pam xxx
Sipping and Styling 