At the very top of the British Isles are the Shetland Islands, the most northerly of which is an island called Unst. It is on this island that you’ll find The Shetland Distillery Company, owners of the Saxa Vord Distillery, which produces Shetland Reel Gin and Shetland Reel Whisky.
Saxa Vord is a former RAF base which was redeveloped over the course of eight years, into the most northerly distillery in the UK. With a plan to produce both Gin and Whisky, the recipes were developed in very small batches, with the help of some very willing taste-testers on the island!
The first commercial run of Gin in Shetland was produced by the company in September 2014. Since then, the operation has grown slightly, along with demand for the product, but due to the small size of the still, they can only ever produce so much.