At their distillery, far in the north of Scotland, Claire and Martin Murray have been working for years to capture the flavours and scents of the Highlands. And in the incredible special edition gin that we sent our members in their August 2020 Gin of the Month box, they’ve managed to hone in on a particular area of stunning to delight. Made to mirror the windswept stretch of sand where the Scottish Highlands meet the Atlantic Ocean, you’ve never tasted a gin like this before - it’s one remarkable tipple!
Meet Rock Rose Citrus Coastal Edition Gin and find out a little more about the amazing coastal botanicals that make it so unique.
Our August 2020 Gin of the Month:
Rock Rose Citrus Coastal Edition Gin
Made exclusively for Craft Gin Club in Caithness, Scotland
41.5% ABV
Botanicals:
Italian juniper, Bulgarian juniper, angelica, bilberries, rose root, cinnamon, cassia, orange peel, liquorice, orris, cardamom, water mint, lemon peel, kelp, lemon verbena, liquorice salt.
Tasting Notes:
A taste of the beaches of northern Scotland. Bright citrus from lemon verbena is balanced by the oceanic umami flavour of kelp. Liquorice salt added post-distillation gives this spirit just the faintest yet utterly delectable hint of salinity.
The Spirit Of The Shoreline
“Close your eyes and picture being on a beach. We want to deliver a taste of Caithness so that people can see what we’re all about.”
Our exclusive August 2020 Gin of the Month is the latest gin to come from the amazing Rock Rose Gin Distillery, started and run by the husband and wife duo Martin and Claire Murray, who we first had the pleasure of working with way back in August 2015.
This brand new edition was made just for our members and been designed to coincide with Scotland’s Year of Coasts and Waters. It’s a scrumptious spirit that captures the incredible experience of standing with the sand in your toes and the wind in your hair, at the edge of the world: on Dunnet Bay’s golden sand beaches.
They have managed to achieve those amazing coastal flavours by looking to the bountiful larder that surrounds them. There are three ingredients, in particular, that have been key to giving their gin it’s remarkable flavour.
The Local Larder
Built on a foundation of Rock Rose’s original expression, this Craft Gin Club exclusive has incredible coastal flavours layered over the taste of the Scottish wilderness. These Caithness-foraged botanicals are what makes Rock Rose Citrus Coastal Edition so special.
Kelp
A company local to Caithness, Shore Seaweed sources kelp for Rock Rose Gin Distillery, who use it to give this gin its incredible oceanic umami flavour.
Liquorice Salt
Image: The Hebridean Mustard Company
The very slight salinity you may taste in August’s Gin of the Month box is from salt infused with liquorice, from the Hebridean Mustard Company.
Lemon Verbena
Claire and Martin grow their own lemon verbena in the geodome behind their distillery.
These incredible botanicals were all added to Rock Rose Gin Distillery’s key botanicals, which have come to define their remarkable gin.
“We had a pretty simple goal: to create a gin that felt very local to Caithness. We worked with Brian Lamb, an amazing herbalist, who took us around the area and introduced us to some incredible ingredients.”
One key ingredient that Martin and Claire discovered when they first began exploring their surroundings was water mint, with its soft and refreshing flavour.
But the key to their botanical blend from the start was a hearty little flower called Rhodiola rosea – a rose in the rocks. This flowering plant can flourish in even the harshest environments, weathering the wind and rain on the rocky cliffs of Pentland Firth. Claire and Martin forage for their rose root amongst these ancient stones, following in the footsteps of the Vikings centuries before, who believed this little plant would give them the strength to continue their arduous sea journeys.
“We were looking for different, distinctive flavours, and we found that in Rhodiola Rosea. I believe we were the first to use it as a gin botanical.”
Rather than distilling the whole plant or the petals, Martin and Claire use the roots of the rock rose. This unusual botanical imparts a delicate, almost rose-like flavour and aroma to their gin, and connects every drop to the wild cliffs of Caithness.
So key was this tenacious little flower to the botanical blend – and so fitting as a symbol of the distillery – that Claire and Martin named their signature gin after it. And they have been making stunning gins ever since!
Claire and Martin chose a ceramic bottle for their gin. With their hand-hewn feel, these bottles stand out in any gin collection, and Claire and Martin are happy to refill them for gin lovers who hate waste as much as they do.
With so many unique features (and a stunning flavour profile) Rock Rose Gin, their first edition, took the gin world by storm, becoming the only Scottish product to win a three-star Great Taste Award in its first year – but this was just the beginning for this enterprising family distillery in the wilds of Caithness that has lead to the creation of their Rock Rose Citrus Coastal Edition Gin for Craft Gin Club members.
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