Today, Friday 31st July 2015, The Duke of Rothesay took a tour of Dunnet Bay Distillery, the thriving Caithness distillery, where husband and wife team, Martin and Claire Murray, handcraft Rock Rose Gin. This acclaimed gin features botanicals that are hand foraged from local cliffs and forests to create a gin with a unique and award-winning flavour profile.
Prince Charles took the opportunity to visit the small botanical dome at this rapidly growing, independent distillery and learn more about the juniper regeneration project with the Caithness Biodiversity Group, partly funded by the distillery, which aims to bring back fruit-bearing juniper bush to the area.
The royal visit follows an exciting 2015 to date for the distillery. Not only has the gin secured prestigious listings with Fortnum & Mason and Harvey Nichols, it has won a plethora of awards. These include Best New Launch Design at the World Gin Awards 2015, a Bronze medal at the world-renowned San Francisco World Spirits Competition, two silver medals at the Gin Masters (super premium and London dry categories), plus it was a drinks finalist in the Scotland Food & Drink Excellence Awards.
Martin Murray, Founder of Rock Rose Gin, says, "It has been such a honour to host The Duke of Rothesay at our wee distillery today. We have had an incredible year to date and as a micro distillery based in the far North of Scotland, we've been blown away by the interest in our gin, especially as this time last year we only had a field and a dream! We are passionate about representing the heritage and provenance of Caithness through our gin and to protecting its future through the juniper regeneration project."
