Pickering

Our Story - The Botanical Engineers. We make Pickering's Gin in the distillery we built ourselves, from scratch, in the heart of Edinburgh. When we opened Summerhall Distillery, it was the first exclusive gin distillery to be established in Edinburgh for over 150 years. Believe it or not, this multi-award winning gin only came into being in 2013. As fate would have it, Marcus had recently inherited a gin recipe from a friend of his late father. Add to that our mutual penchant for a good gin, and the next step seemed obvious. Never mind that we didn't, strictly speaking, have a distillery. We rolled up our sleeves and built one. Never mind that we had no background in distilling. We tried, tested and experimented until we were experts. Never mind that everyone told us it couldn't be done. We got on and did it. And so began the story of the Botanical Engineers. [Timeline] The beginning - On the 17th July 1947, our recipe was written down in Bombay, India. Kept as a family secret for over 66 years, it resurfaced when we began distilling. March 2014 - Pickering's Gin was born! Did you know that the first bottle of Pickering's Gin was sealed with Babybel wax? July 2014 - Navy Strength: Pickering's Navy Strength Gin hit the shelves in July, becoming The Official Gin of The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. July 2015 - Original 1947 Gin. August 2017 - Scottish Botanicals: Just in time for The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, we launched Pickering's Gin with Scottish Botanicals, clad with tartan to celebrate our first ever Scottish Gin. June 2019 - Refill Scheme: Our new bottle refill scheme gets the green light. March 2024 - A Decade of Pickering's Gin: Pickering's Gin turned 10 years old! Pickering's Gin Recipe - Handwritten in India. Handcrafted in Edinburgh. Pickering's Gin is based on an original Bombay recipe, dating from 17 July 1947. Kept as a family secret for over 66 years, it only resurfaced when we began distilling at Summerhall in Edinburgh. The original recipe gave us a gin full of fragrant spices and fresh citrus fruits - just the way they liked it in the days of the Raj. But by 2013, people were expecting a softer, smoother style of gin. [Homepage] Before our distillery was our distillery, it used to be the kennels for The Royal Dick Vet School. Matt and Marcus converted the space and built our distillery by hand! It became the first exclusive gin distillery in Edinburgh in over 150 years.

Quoted from pickeringsgin.com, in Pickering's own words. We have not edited it and we do not vouch for it.