Blog

With Edinburgh Cocktail Week well underway, we're serving up the goods from our very own EnGINe 47!   It's the biggest and most exciting festival line-up to date and we've put our best foot forward to deliver a selection of stonkingly good drinks! Following its massive popularity last year, the Cocktail Village has returned to Festival Square, even bigger and better than before with19 pop-up bars, live music, a cosy covered outdoor street food area and our EnGINe 47 dispensing cocktails direct from our Thirst Extinguishers! We have three tasty tipples on offer including; The Pink Peacock - with our Classic Pickering’s Gin, peach purée, sugar, egg white and lemon Gina Colada - a gin-ny twist on the Pina Colada, frozen and served from our bespoke slushy machine AND The Sloe Burner - a twist on the Classic Negroni using our delectably sumptuous and warming Sloe Gin.⠀ Entry to the Cocktail Village is free with an Edinburgh Cocktail Week Wristband, available to buy here! All cocktails being served are £4 each.   Plus the fun doesn't stop there... you can wander on down to The Raeburn in Stockbridge and enjoy tasty Pickering's Gin tipples as well as a unique discount on food and drink to allow you to continue on your cocktail adventure long after leaving the village! Remember to tag us in your photos and use #pickeringscocktails to be in with a chance of winning a years' supply of gin! With 70 participating bars all across Edinburgh plus the Cocktail Village AND a full programme of events taking place, be sure to get yourself down there and grab a slice of the action! 🎉  

We sponsor The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo but we didn't sponsor this one...   In what we believe to be the first ever Pickering's Gin tattoo, we tracked down Jirko Zwicker of Germany who had our Pickering's Gin with Scottish Botanicals (that's the Official Gin of the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo) permanently etched onto his skin.   Mr Zwicker chose famous Italian tattooer Mattia Mambo, known for his uniquely bold and colourful style, to create this one-off gin ink. Mattia is known for having invented a new style of tattoo that he calls "destrutturato", which roughly translates to deconstructed in English. All of his pieces have a vivid pop art aesthetic and are notable for their simple yet striking abstraction.   When Mattia shared the photo to his 346,000 Instagram followers at the end of July, we naturally we had to investigate further... We interviewed Mr Zwicker to find out what led to this unique act of Pickering's fandom... Here is what he had to say:   "Pickering's is a secret favourite of mine. The first time I drank it was at the Feathers Bar in London and as a gin lover, I really like this edition with the Scottish Botanicals. I am delighted to be noted as the person with the first Pickering's tattoo. I always say... it's a gin you can always drink!"   Safe to say, we are blown away by this striking piece of artwork and we look forward to seeing if any more people come forward to share their Pickering's Gin tattoos.   Mr Pickering himself has his eye on a design after seeing Mambo's masterpiece so watch this space...

The Edinburgh Fringe Festival has begun and our Pickering's Gin Jolly has been given an extra flourish for the month of August. Due to high demand, we've added an extra ten tours every single week to ensure everyone gets the opportunity to visit us.   Our renowned Gin Jolly has been given a five-star Visitor Experience Award by Visit Scotland as well as a TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence and is known as being the Top Distillery to visit in Edinburgh. As such, we felt it appropriate to revamp our tour for the Festival Fringe and bring you a brand new offering with some exciting extras.     Arrive at our Pickering's Deck Bar in Summerhall Courtyard and receive a deliciously refreshing Pickering's and tonic to start your tour. Once the whole group has arrived, your tour guide will lead you round to the distillery and welcome you in to our small but perfectly-formed home. Hear all about the history of gin and how it came to our shores, followed by the unique story of Pickering's Gin came to be and the how we came to botanically engineer our range of award-winning gins in one of the busiest Fringe venues.   You'll then learn about the distillation process and how we fill, cork, label and wax dip every single bottle of Pickering's Gin by hand. Finally, enjoy a tutored tasting of three samples of neat gin followed by an opportunity to buy all of our gins and Pickering's merchandise in our distillery shop. You will then be guided back to the Deck Bar where your journey began to enjoy our Pickering's Summer Sip, a delicious cocktail incorporating our Pink Grapefruit and Lemongrass Liqueur, fresh lime juice and Grapefruit San Pellegrino.   A Fringe Gin Jolly costs £15 per person and tickets can be booked directly through the Summerhall Box Office.  (Tours do not run on the 6th, 13th, or 20th of August)   Book now to avoid disappointment!

Our new bottle scheme gets the green light With concerns about the environment at an all-time high, we think it’s the responsibility of every business, big and small, to ensure they’re doing their bit. So, after a few green smoothies and a green salad for lunch, we got our pioneering ginnovators, Matt and Marcus, to do a spot of green thinking. Here’s what they came up with…   You can now refill any Pickering’s Red Top, Navy Strength or 1947 gin empties from our refill tanks and then hand dip your recycled bottles in green wax to reseal them. You’ll even get a 15% discount on your gin and, if you refill 5 times (easy done), you’ll get a replacement bottle with a nice fresh label.   And the green revolution doesn’t stop there. We already source all the water for our still condensers from an adjoining well, the remnants of a brewery that stood on the site in the 1700s. We’ve also scrapped all bubble wrap from our shipping cases, installed solar-powered window shutters and made the move to paper and compostable cups for all our tours and events.   So next time you polish off your Pickering’s, why not pop down to Summerhall Distillery for a refill? Not only is it great fun dipping your bottles, but the new green seals will show everyone that you’re doing your bit for the planet.

Good taste. Some have it. Some don't. But did you know that at 30,000 feet high, our taste receptors are significantly suppressed? Air pressure, lack of humidity, and even the hum of the plane's engines can render many high-flyers unable to discern sweet and salty flavours effectively.   Now that's the kind of whacky science challenge our engineers, Matt & Marcus just couldn't resist. So they set about their latest ginvention - a tipple that would taste as good in the sky, as it did on the ground.   Clearly, exhaustive testing was required. Different recipes were trialled at different altitudes, and the result (aside from a slightly merry Matt at baggage reclaim) was a beautifully balanced gin that's tasting notes shift, the higher you fly. This unique expression balances a bouquet of bold floral juniper and lemon myrtle, with hints of beautifully British heather and rose petal, and warmer undertones of cardamon and cinnamon spice. Delicious whether you're relaxing in the departure lounge or kicking back with an in-flight movie.   And the really exciting bit? This latest feat of botanical engineering has been distilled in partnership with British Airways to celebrate their Centenary year.   To work with such an iconic brand is a dream for us. British Airways' reputation for quality products and service is unsurpassed. And now, Pickering's British Airways Centenary Gin is available to try on board all short haul flights, for the remainder of their Centenary year. We've even created a 'Gin Flight' mini gift pack, for those that like their Pickering's pocket sized. This is now available in the High Life shop on all flights long haul and non-EU flights.   So what's next for our intrepid ginventors? You'll just have to wait and see. But one thing's for sure, the sky's the limit.  

This time 5 years ago in Summerhall, Edinburgh, the first batch of Pickering’s gin was distilled, bottled and dispatched to the general public. We didn’t know it then, but we became the first exclusive gin distillery in Edinburgh in over 150 years! So in good spirits, we’d like to share some fond memories... The story starts when the owners of the University of Edinburgh’s Dick Veterinary college, enlisted the help of our co-founders (but builders by trade back then) for the renovation of the site into the bustling arts and exhibitions venue, Summerhall, that it is today.Our brilliant co-founders Matt and Marcus had the thought of transforming the disused dog kennels into a working distillery (after all, there was Barney’s brewery and the Royal Dick pub on sight already). But they were lacking something... Oh yes, that’s right! A still! The first ever Pickering’s still, bought from eBay, could only hold 1L of our tasty gin. Once the pair had perfected their recipe they soon discovered that they were going to need something more heavy duty to cope with demand. What had started as a Sunday hobby for them rapidly skyrocketed and soon enough, Gertrude and Emily, were built! These girls now hold 500L each and have gone on to create every bottle of our multi-award winning range of 16 (and counting!) expressions.  Now, we all know what makes us Pickering’s is our inventive, remarkable and unrelenting characteristics to any obstacle in our way. And you’ll be pleased to hear that’s true right the way down to the labels! As we look back on our last 5 years, it’s important to commemorate those we’ve lost along the way. For 3 years, Mabel the labeller, who was made from a few boards of MDF and a phone charger, lovingly branded every bottle in just the right way. But as popularity grew, Mabel couldn’t cope and she was disgracefully retired in 2016 to make way for our whizzy new machine who can now label up to 1000 bottles per hour to meet demand. Working alongside the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo has long been one of our proudest milestones. As so many will know, tattoos and gin rarely mix well… but not in our case! We may have never created our fan favourite 57.1% Navy Strength gin equipped with the iconic Bearskin hat, without this partnership. Since then, we have moved this expression over into our core range, and it has been replaced with our tartan-clad special edition: Pickering's gin with Scottish botanicals. The perfect gin to be the official sponsor of the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. Mr. Pickering’s Great Uncle, Captain George Gibbons CBE RD RNR, captained the legendary Cunard transatlantic liner, The Queen Mary in 1936. So naturally, our partnership with the luxury Cunard line in 2017 has been a particularly personal and emotional milestone to the Pickering’s team. Our 3 bespoke expressions, exclusively available on their respective flagships (Queen Mary 2, Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth) and direct from the distillery in Summerhall, Edinburgh, are uniquely distilled to celebrate the routes that they sail. Now, this celebration of achievements would not be complete without talking about opening the first ever gin and seafood bar in Beijing in 2018. The Pickering’s Gin and Seafood bar located in the Chaoyang District of the capital. A particularly huge achievement for our small independent distillery as it means everything to us to be helping to put our home country, and all of the amazing produce that Scotland has to offer, on the global map. Thank you to all of our #Ginfriends, stockists, distributors, suppliers, and staff for the last 5 years of support. We truly can’t wait to show you what we are getting up to now, roll on 6 years - it’s going to be a big one.

“The third & final call for passenger ‘Pickering’… please make your way to World Duty Free!”   After a short delay, we’re delighted to announce that you can now proceed directly to World Duty Free to pick up a bottle of Pickering’s Gin before flying out of Scotland.   Passengers can now purchase Pickering’s Gin, Special Edition Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo Pickering’s Gin with Scottish Botanicals and Pickering’s Pink Grapefruit & Lemongrass Liqueur before flying from Aberdeen, Edinburgh or Glasgow Airports. Found within the spirits section of World Duty Free amongst some of the world’s best brands, Pickering’s Gin is available to reserve online & pick up before you fly, or purchase in the airport & collect on your way home – stress free duty free!   Further exciting announcements with Edinburgh Airport to follow in Summer 2019.

That’s right, Pickering’s Gin-filled Christmas Baubles have landed in the U.S.A! Pickering’s Gin elves have filled, capped, ribboned and packed Christmas spirit and cheer into over 1 million brightly coloured ornaments. Each filled and finished by hand in the Scottish Capital’s first exclusive gin distillery for over 150 years (not quite the North Pole, but close enough!) So far, excitement for the Gin Baubles in America has been tree-mendous! When news broke of our 48-second sell out in 2016, Martha Stewart wanted to Grab Christmas by the Baubles. ABC news called us in Edinburgh for an interview and Lynda Lopez made a Christmas wish for our little beauties live on Good Morning America. This year, we are thrilled to say our Christmas decorations and gins are available in the following States via our importer, Quest Brands.   The easiest way to find a store near you is to email our friend Ed on: ed.kohl@questbrandsinc.com

Back in January, we asked our #Ginfriends what is the next thing they’d like to see from us. The overwhelming response: “flavours, flavours, flavours!” But what flavour? Well there could be only one choice. Inspired by our signature serve – Pickering’s Gin & tonic garnished with pink grapefruit – Head Distiller Matt Gammell set about creating our first ever liqueur using the trusty pink grapefruit and fragrant spice that has long been the hallmark of a perfect P&T.   Lusciously tart and tangy, Pickering’s Pink Grapefruit & Lemongrass Liqueur is blended with the soft, sweet citrus of real pink grapefruit. A twist on the classic French Pamplemousse style, our decadent and refreshing liqueur is lifted with lemongrass and Bombay botanicals. It adds a zesty spring to gin and tonic, cocktails or a simple glass of fizz.   In June, we headed up to the illustrious Gleneagles Hotel in Auchterarder to give attendees of the Brodies Tennis Invitational a sneak preview of our latest creation. The Invitational saw tennis champions Mark Philippoussis, Colin Fleming, Thomas Muster and former British number one Tim Henman battle it out for the final of the ATP Champions Tour. In between sets, avid tennis fans sipped and sampled the liqueur in cocktails pumped straight from our miniature fire engine, the EnGINe 47.   We even roped Tim and Colin in for a shift or two behind the bar to serve up some Pink Grapefruit fizzes. Good job their service is quicker on the court, because they built up quite a queue...   Pickering’s Pink Grapefruit and Lemongrass Liqueur is now available in our online shop, and at your local independent bottle shop. Scottish Ginfriends: do look out for bottles hitting the shelves at your local Sainsbury's from October 10th.

“If you can’t find what you want, make it yourself” was the mantra and sense of determination that led Marcus and Matt to build their very own distillery in Edinburgh’s old Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies. Unbeknown to them, they were creating what would become one of Scotland’s most unique distilleries. Which, we’re excited to announce, has been awarded Best Visitor Attraction in Edinburgh, the Lothians and Borders at Visit Scotland’s prestigious Thistle Awards. Being recognised and recommended by Visit Scotland as the Best Visitor Attraction fills us up with pride, especially as Edinburgh is second only to London with its number of international visitors, with over 3.85m curious travellers attracted to our city’s world class museums, theatres, festivals, history and hospitality every year. Once attached to a public vet surgery (later renovated into a pub), our distillery has been welcoming the intrepid and the thirsty for tours since the early days of 2014. Now, our small distillery welcomes up to 300 visitors per week. Not bad for 400 square feet.   This summer, in order to continue improving our visitor experience, we decided to build ourselves a brand new shop and tasting room in the distillery. This means our lovely tour guides Jenny and Victoria (that’s them in the picture) can spend more time with our guests in between important distillery business and keep our shop open for longer. Visitors to Summerhall Distillery get to see first-hand how we distil, bottle, label and wax our award-winning gin range by hand. At just £10pp each guest enjoys a complimentary welcome P&T, a full guided tour of the distillery and samples of the Pickering’s Gin range to finish. Our distillery shop is open Monday- Sunday 10am- 5pm if you just fancy some baubles, a bottle, a sample or even just a chat.

Pickering’s Gin and Seafood Bar: The First Gin Bar in Beijing In July 2018 we launched Beijing’s first ever Gin Bar. ‘What? Where? Why?’ you ask. Well, we may make small batch gin from a 400 square foot distillery in Edinburgh, but we have a determinedly global outlook – much like our home city of Edinburgh.  One fortuitous Tuesday in early 2018, Marcus met with Kurt, Director of PandaBrew – the trailblazers in the burgeoning Chinese craft brewing scene. Two very different companies, but with the same mission to bring high quality craft drinks to the Chinese market. Not long after the initial conversation, Pickering’s Gin and PandaBrew began to collaborate to develop a high-end Pickering’s Gin and Seafood Bar concept – bringing the first dedicated gin joint to Beijing. Plans quickly shifted into bricks and mortar and in a matter of months our bar was being built in the trendy Sanlitun area of the Chaoyang District in Beijing.   With Scotland’s first direct flight to China having recently launched between Edinburgh & Beijing, team Pickering’s hopped on a flight to oversee the final stages of the build. Together with the bar’s award-winning head mixologist, John Hung, Pickering’s Brand Ambassador Stevie Watson tweaked and fine-tuned a bespoke, avant-garde cocktail menu designed to introduce gin to the people of Beijing.   The Pickering’s Gin and Seafood Bar opened on July 22nd 2018 with a swanky opening ceremony with over 100 local dignitaries, celebrities and influencers from the Chinese capital, all to the tune of Beijing’s only bagpiper. Marcus and Matt donned their full traditional Scottish attire and impressed the crowd not only with their kilts, but our exceptional range of botanically engineered gins.    China hasn’t yet seen the thirst for gin that the West has had in recent years but it’s coming, and with an alcohol import market of £608m we’re certainly excited to be one of the first gins to introduce ourselves! We are absolutely thrilled with the success of the Pickering’s Gin and Seafood bar in Beijing and are looking forward to the future of Pickering’s Gin in China. Watch this space…

Our original company car, the Austin A35 Ginny, has had to share her gin-garage with a fair few peculiar vehicles over the years. First there was (probably) the smallest mobile gin bar in the world – ‘Ginette’ the miniature motorbike. Then, at the opposite end of the scale, there was our 12 foot converted Airstream caravan with a fully kitted-out cocktail bar. It’s no surprise that Marcus and Matt eventually grew restless, desiring yet another motor for their collection. Whilst scouring an internet auction site one day, they came across just the thing: a miniature Japanese airport fire engine.   When Marcus brought ‘enGINe 47’ home to Summerhall Distillery for the first time the team could barely contain themselves. Sirens wailing, light hearted heckles spouting from Marcus on the tannoy – it certainly makes an entrance. The engine was undeniably charming, but Marcus wasn’t about to settle for anything short of bedazzling.  A new frame was built by Blakes engineering in Edinburgh. A cover was created by Sail Doctor in Port Edgar and a roll out, fold out bar fixed to the back. Then it was over to Marcus to do the rest. Putting his old art restoration and prototype production skills into action, garden hoses were painstakingly replaced with beer lines. Little kegs, dressed up as ‘thirst-extinguishers’, were filled with gin cocktails and hey-presto! our latest invention was ready to hit the streets of Edinburgh.   Making her debut on World Gin Day 2018, EnGINe47 delighted guests at Brewhemia, our World Gin Day partner, by distributing free G&Ts to the wandering and the thirsty. Needless to say, it was a rip-roaring success.   With the gin-garage so busy these days, we will be sending EnGINe47 out on her travels to quench thirsts nationwide. Have a Gin-mergency? She’s here to serve and to quench.

It has certainly been a big year for export - first America, then China!   We’ve been eagerly pursuing the American market even since winning a loyal set of American #Ginfriends after our Pickering’s Gin Baubles went…well…viral across the world in 2016. Our little Christmas ornaments filled with gin moved the emotions of Brits and Americans alike and were soon picked up by news desks Stateside like: USA Today, ABC News and even Cosmopolitan magazine. Soon after, even famous TV chef Martha Stewart was posting about them on her Facebook page. Demand grew and grew and there was nothing we could do, even ABC news called us up for an interview in Times Square! Problem was, that as each bauble is filled by hand, we didn’t have enough to send across the pond.   This year, Matt and Marcus (gin suitcase in hand) have been travelling across America, visiting local liquor stores across the land to introduce customers to our gins the old-fashioned way- in person. Pickering’s is going down a treat, with a real growing taste for premium, artisanal Scottish gin.