Inshriach Gin

‘My gin is a celebration of where we live but it’s also an excuse for a belter of a party.’ These are the words of Walter Micklethwait who owns Inshriach Estate, a stunning, peaceful area of native woodland in the Cairngorms National Park. Most of the original estate had been sold to the Forestry Commission before Walter’s grandparents came to live there in 1970 and the remaining 200 acres comprised equal woodland and grazing, an Edwardian estate house and a homestead of stone cottages and barns. All the buildings were in need of repair and the estate wasn’t making any money when Walter and his mother took it over but they have since renovated the house, added a collection of quirky glamping spots and Walter has rebuilt the old chicken sheds to look like a ramshackle scene from a Wild West movie with a ‘150-litre moonshiner of a still’. This is Inshriach Distillery, the winner of Channel 4’s ‘Shed of the Year’ in 2015, an accolade which helped to propel Walter’s gin into the market.