Winners of The Gin Cooperative Awards 2023 revealed - including Scotland's smallest distillery

North Uist Distillery, Downpour Scottish Dry Gin, new bottle launch 2022

placeholder image — North Uist Distillery, Downpour Scottish Dry Gin, new bottle launch 2022

The Gin Cooperative Awards, now in its second year, saw entries from new and established producers whose gins were assessed and judged by a judging panel of 72 judges from industry, community and consumer, with each entry judged by nine judges.

Unique to The Gin Cooperative Awards, each entry was judged neat and as a gin and tonic.

The big winners from the awards included Leith based Electric Spirit Co., who picked up four awards for their Achroous Gin, including Gold Scottish Gin of the Year, Gold London Dry Scottish Gin, Gold Consumer Judges Award and Silver Scottish Gin and Tonic.

James Porteous, founder of Electric Spirit Co. said "These results are beyond anything we could have hoped for when we entered the awards.

"We've been making Achroous for eight years, so to not only pick up a stack of gold and silver medals, but also to be named as the best gin in Scotland, is a real testament to the quality and longevity of our recipe.

"The consumer award is especially satisfying - at the end of the day, our main goal is to make a spirit that gin drinkers will love. This is a wonderful validation of everything we aim for as a business.”

North Uist Distillery on the Hebridean island of North Uist picked up a total of five awards with their Downpour Pink Grapefruit Gin collecting Gold Judges Industry Award and Silver Old Tom Scottish Gin.

Their signature Downpour Scottish Dry Gin picked up Gold Judges Community Award, Silver London Dry Scottish Gin and Silver Scottish Gin of the Year Award.

Jonny Ingledew, co-founder of North Uist Distillery said “We were super excited to take part in The Gin Cooperative Awards 2023 as we really respect the effort Natalie and Martin put into making this a quality competition through the robust tasting criteria and comprehensive and varied judging panel.

"We are delighted to scoop five medals and would like to congratulate the other winners and thank the judges and The Gin Cooperative for promoting the Scottish gin category."

New for this year was The Outstanding Contribution to Scottish Gin Award, an award that recognises an individual, business or organisation’s positive contribution to the Scottish Gin Industry.

The winner of this inaugural award was Martin Murray, co-founder of Dunnet Bay Distillers, the producers of the Rock Rose range of Scottish Gins.

Martin Murray, co-founder of Dunnet Bay Distillers said of this accolade: “I’m extremely honoured and completely overwhelmed to have been been awarded The Outstanding Contribution to Scottish Gin Award.

"I'm currently in America on a business development trip and the news left me speechless.

"Winning awards for our distillery and spirits always means a lot, but this is really special for me personally, to be recognised and remembered for helping and supporting others in the industry.”Great Glen Distillery, which currently holds the title of Scotland’s smallest distillery, picked up a total of four awards.

Their Inverness Gin picked up three awards including Gold for New Scottish Gin and Gold for Scottish Gin and Tonic, scoring the highest out of all entries for the gin and tonic score along with a Silver for the Consumer Judges Award. Their Great Glen Pink Gin picked up a Bronze for Flavoured Scottish Gin.

Simone Peter, Brand Ambassador at Great Glen Distillery said “Receiving four medals for our gins from The Gin Cooperative Awards is a testament to our team's dedication and passion.

"It is a tremendous honour to be recognised amongst some exceptional Scottish gins and makes all the hard work worthwhile.”

Other winners included Orkney Gin Company, Isle of Skye Distillers, Persie Gin, Little Brown Dog Spirits, McLean’s Gin, North Point Distillery, Kirkjuvagr Orkney Gin, Brewdog Distilling, Edinburgh Gin, The Wee Farm Distillery, King’s Hill and House of Elrick.

Of this year's awards, Natalie Reid, co-founder of The Gin Cooperative said: “Once again we’re delighted to showcase the wonderful world of Scottish Gin and recognise the amazing work of Scotland’s Gin producers and brand owners.

"Our judging panel have once again done a sterling job with lots of invaluable feedback about not only the gins but also the packaging to give a real world score for the products entered this year. Congratulations once again to all the winners.”

Full list of winners of The Gin Cooperative Awards

Scottish Gin of the Year Award 2023 Winners

Gold Award - Achroous (Electric Spirit Company)
Silver Award - Downpour Scottish Dry Gin (North Uist Distillery)
Bronze Award - Crosskirk Bay Gin (North Point Distillery)

Scottish Gin and Tonic Award 2023 Winners

Gold Award - Inverness Gin (Great Glen Distillery)
Silver Award - Achroous (Electric Spirit Company)
Bronze Award - Bronze Award - Downpour Scottish Dry Gin (North Uist Distillery)

Scottish Gin Packaging Award 2023 Winners

Gold Award - Aatta Gin (Orkney Gin Company)
Silver Award - Arkh-Angell Storm Strength Orkney Gin (Orkney Distilling/Kirkjuvagr)
Bronze Award - LoneWolf Original (BrewDog Distilling)

New Scottish Gin Award 2023 Winners

Gold Award - Inverness Gin (Great Glen Distillery)
Silver Award - King’s Hill Rhubarb and Raspberry (The Pentland Still)
Bronze Award - Crossbill Green Dry Gin (Crossbill Distillery)

Outstanding Contribution to Scottish Gin Award 2023 Winner

Martin Murray, Dunnet Bay Distillers

London Dry Scottish Gin Award 2023 Winners

Gold Award - Achroous (Electric Spirit Company)
Silver Award - Downpour Scottish Dry Gin (North Uist Distillery)
Bronze Award - Crosskirk Bay Gin (North Point Distillery)

Distilled Scottish Gin Award 2023 Winners

Gold Award - Persie Zesty Citrus Gin (Persie Distillery)
Silver Award - LBD Aberdeenshire Foraged Gin Unlimited Edition (Little Brown Dog
Spirits)
Bronze Award - Misty Isle 'Salty & Sweet' Gin (Isle of Skye Distillers)

Bathtub Scottish Gin Award 2023 Winners

Gold Award - Mikkelmas (Orkney Gin Company)
Silver Award - McLean’s Something Blue (McLean’s Gin)
Bronze Award - McLean’s Winter Spiced (McLean’s Gin)

Old Tom Scottish Gin Award 2023 Winners

Gold Award - Rhubarb Old Tom (Orkney Gin Company)
Silver Award - Downpour Pink Grapefruit Gin (North Point Distillery)
Bronze Award - House of Elrick Old Tom Gin (House of Elrick)

Navy Strength Scottish Gin Award 2023 Winners

Gold Award - LBD Latitude (Little Brown Dog Spirits)
Silver Award - Edinburgh Gin Cannonball (Edinburgh Gin)
Bronze Award - House of Elrick Navy Strength Gin (House of Elrick)

Flavoured Scottish Gin Award 2023 Winners

Gold Award - King’s Hill Rhubarb and Raspberry (The Pentland Still)
Silver Award - Coorie Gin (The Wee Farm Distillery)
Bronze Award - Great Glen Pink Gin (Great Glen Distillery)

Industry Judges Award 2023 Winners

Gold Award - Downpour Pink Grapefruit Gin (North Uist Distillery)
Silver Award - Arkh-Angell Storm Strength Orkney Gin (Orkney Distilling/Kirkjuvagr
Bronze Award - Misty Isle 'Classically Aromatic' Gin (Isle of Skye Distillers)

Community Judges Award 2023 Winners