Celebrate community spirit on World Gin Day
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Today is the day to raise your G&T, martini, negroni or just a simple and flavourful glass of neat spirit – it’s all about the botanicals on World Gin Day.
With its excellent craft distilleries, Scotland is the place to be to celebrate great flavours - but also the importance of local distilleries to our communities.
And it’s community spirit which is at the core of Dingwall-based GlenWyvis distillery, the hands behind the production of award-winning GoodWill Gin, which is distilled, bottled and labelled at the micro distillery by its five-members-strong staff.
Celebrating the 5th anniversary since its first ever distillation of gin - on June 8, 2018, marking also the first ever and only legal distillation of Gin in Dingwall – the distillery was built with the community in Dingwall in mind, being world’s first 100 per cent community-owned distillery.
Created blending nine premier botanicals, including exotic fruits and locally picked Hawthorn berries, its gin is also a source of boost for the community: in fact, 5 per cent of all online sales of the GoodWill Gin goes to the GoodWill Fund, which is then awarded to the local community. This is where the spirit takes its name from.
Distiller Craig MacRitchie said: “With distinct citrus notes coming through and a bit of zestiness provided by our local hawthorn, our GoodWill Gin is a lovely, crisp handcrafted Highland gin. Personally, I enjoy our gin with 2 parts gin 1 part tonic, topped with an orange garnish, but it is perfectly drinkable neat over some ice.”
This year saw the distillery giving back to the community with £10,000 from the GoodWill Fund awarded to eight local projects.
Grant winners for the first year were Maryburgh Toddler Group and Strathpeffer Primary School as well as Archaeology for Communities in Highland,The Neil Gunn Trust, Feis Rois, DP Digital and Woodside Croft Flower.
Handing over the grants Dr Jock Ramsay, chair of the GoodWill Fund Committee, said it was fantastic to be able to finally give back to the community.
He said: "It's a brilliant step forward forward in fulfilling one of our core purposes, which is to run a business for the benefit of the community.
"We hope that this injection of new funds will enable more young people to achieve their full potential, make the benefits of local culture and history more widely accessible, and promote sustainable business development."
Projects from all across Ross-shire can apply for the grants.
So, on World Gin Day, why not to toast to your community with a sip of GoodWill Gin?
