When you have travelled all the way to the UK’s most northerly inhabited island, Unst, you will find a warm welcome awaits at the Saxa Vord distillery. Throughout the year, our distillery tours run at midday each day (except Sundays/Mondays) with extra tours added for peak times. Their core range features five gins that have to be tried to be believed, perfect for someone looking for something that truly stands out from the crowd. There is no BS here and with that I would opt for a no BS Negroni that puts a big cheeky grin on my face!”

Strathearn Distillery offers a whole range of tours including a simple tour of the farm based distillery, a day spent distilling or most interesting for gin lovers - an afternoon making and drinking gin. PERTHSHIRE: PERSIE GIN Julian Vallis says:“Tobermory throws the notion of a traditional gin out the window and just lets the malty base shine through with absolutely no effort to hide the fact this comes from a whisky distillery. NB claim that no matter the demand for their product they will only ever produce in small batches to ensure their gin is as perfect as they can make it and remains hand-crafted. Having been part of the Brit awards after party for several years, it’s clear that it’s that not only gin lovers taking notice but also music royalty are too. EDINBURGH: EDINBURGH GIN Picture: Edinburgh Gin Launching in July 2018, King’s Hill Gin takes its name from a bet between King Robert the Bruce and Sir William ‘The Crusader’ Sinclair, which took place in the Pentland Hills, where the distillery is based. Made with 12 botanicals including the locally foraged gorse, heather, wild rosehip and elderflower.Yep, our love for gin doesn't look like it's going to slow down anytime soon, and these flavours have us even more excited. From classic London dry style to fruit flavoured, the festival showcases a collection of unique spirits at great value prices for shoppers to try at home, including Esker Scottish Raspberry Gin and CeroCero Citrus Non Alcoholic Botanical Spirit. Created by James Porteous, Achroous Gin has built a strong reputation as an exceptional Scottish Gin, culminating in winning double gold at the prestigious San Fransisco World Spirits Competition. Nestled below the stairs of Rutland Place in the capital, sits their original gin distillery, while their second is housed in the Biscuit Factory in Leith.

What can be said about Jim McEwan that hasn't already been said? The man was already a legend in whisky circles before turning his hand to gin.As part of its first ever in-store British Gin Festival, Lidl customers will be able to get their hands on 13 premium craft gins, from 11 distilleries across the UK. The distillery is a controlled working and manufacturing environment, and you should exercise due care and attention on the tour. Distillery staff may draw your attention to specific health & safety procedures to which you must adhere. If the fire alarm sounds during your tour the tour guide will direct you to the nearest exit and muster point. Not content to settle for just gin, they've also just released Scotland's first Absinthe Blanche. ISLE OF HARRIS: ISLE OF HARRIS GIN Picture: Harris Gin One of Scotland's smallest commercial distilleries, Strathearn produce four main gins currently; the Classic, the Citrus, the Heather Rose gin and the Oaked Highland gin. As with many of the gins on our list, it uses a mix of foraged and bought-in botanicals. But unlike of the Scottish gins we’ve mentioned here, it features parsnip in the mix! Other notable botanicals inlude wood sorrel, rhubarb and birch sap.

We support the Scottish Government’s Zero Tolerance campaign towards drinking & driving, and recommend visitors who intend to consume alcohol arrive on foot, or by public transport. So popular they once even had to ration their gin due to having such high demand and they've been named the Gin of the Year by consumers in the annual Scottish Gin Society poll two years running. GLASGOW: MAKAR GIN With the recent launch of International Scottish Gin Dayand the success of a number of gin festivals, as well as the fact that gin is expected to outstrip sales of Scotch by 2020, we thought we'd take a look at 30 of the best Scottish gins - including the Scottish Gin of the Year - we think you should try: 30 of the best Scottish Gins ABERDEENSHIRE: TEASMITH GIN

Perhaps most interestingly, they use both traditional Italian and Bulgarian junipers which are blended together to create a unique juniper taste for their gin. Like Valhalla, Thought & Memory is multi-award-winning, with gold medals at the International Gin Masters (2018 and 2020) and the San Francisco World Spirits Competition. Launched in 2017, Hills & Harbour is distilled in the southwest Scotland, and is one of the few grain to glass distilleries in the country – meaning they make their own base spirit from scratch.