Welcome to Isle of Coll Distillery
The Isle of Coll Distillery is a small craft distillery based on the Island of Coll in the Hebrides, off the west coast of Scotland.
Our first product is the Isle of Coll Hebridean Gin – a beautifully smooth and balanced gin, infused with 10 botanicals, including heather, bog myrtle and sea kelp foraged on the island.
Welcome toIsle of Coll Distillery...
The Isle of Coll Distillery is a small craft distillery based on the Island of Coll in the Hebrides, off the west coast of Scotland.
Our first product is the Isle of Coll Hebridean Gin – a beautifully smooth and balanced gin, infused with 10 botanicals, including heather, bog myrtle and sea kelp foraged on the island.
We have plans for more handcrafted spirits. If you would like to be kept informed of our products and offers, please register below…
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Our story
THE ISLAND
Our story begins with a remote, beautiful island in Scotland. Maybe you already know about the Isle of Coll, but for those of you who don’t...
Coll is a remote island in the Hebrides – a chain of islands off the west coast of Scotland. It measures 13 miles by 3 miles and has a population of around 200.
A place of incredible natural beauty, warmed by the waters of the gulf stream, with stunning beaches, blankets of wild flowers, whitewashed cottages, and endless skies.
If you have never visited, we really think you should.
THE IDEA
It started with two friends – Dougie and Andrew - who have strong family connections to the island. Growing up, they spent their long summer holidays there and even then, would discuss all sorts of business ideas.
Fast forward a lot of years and a lot of ideas, when one evening the idea of a distillery was born.
There had never been a legal distillery on the island, however there was a long tradition of illicit stills, and the sea and land provide a treasure trove of botanicals that have been used for generations to provide unique flavours.
In the wave of the gin renaissance, we knew what we wanted our first product to be – it was time that Coll had its own gin.
MAKING IT ALL HAPPEN
If the idea was easy, making it all happen took a bit more time...
We have built a small distillery on the island. The distillery has a 50 litre still, allowing us to produce spirits in very small batches of around 80 bottles at a time.
To develop the perfect recipe for our first product, the Isle of Coll Gin, we turned to Colin, an accomplished chef who grew up on Coll. His knowledge of the islands botanicals and experience in producing spirits brought us to the smooth and distinctively accented gin that we have today.
Isle of Coll GIN
Setting out, we knew exactly what we wanted - a smooth dry gin that that would create the perfect gin and tonic. One that captured the feeling of those warm summer evenings on the island, when the lighting is at its most magical – with sea and land bathed in the most beautiful hues of blue and green.
We won’t give away all the secrets, but our gin recipe contains 10 botanicals including local heather, kelp and bog myrtle which are foraged on the island by Charlie, our chief forager. We are also very thankful to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) who allow us to access to their lands to collect the botanicals.
Everyone has their own favourite way to drink gin, and our gin is very versatile – perfect with tonic or other mixers and also surprisingly smooth when served neat. We like it with lots of ice, one part gin, two parts tonic, and a slice of lime… it always transports us to those long summer evenings…
Slàinte!
Dougie & Paula
THE BRANDING & THE COW
Our distinctive branding has been developed together with Ross of Coll, a talented local designer who lives on Coll.
The logo for our Company features the Twisted Highlander cow – a much photographed local celebrity, with unusual horns – very unique, just like our products.
Ross has also created a range of merchandise, have a look…
