Taylor is passionate about his artisanal grain-to-glass approach and creating spirits that reflect the place of their birth. The Gin Escape is his way of sharing that journey. “We were of the mindset that we really want to help people understand what provenance is and what craft really means. It is not driven by marketing – it is driven by taste, and coupling that with how we actually make our gin,” he explains. “It is a fun story of quality and provenance that I think is really exciting for a visitor, so they can leave a bit more enlightened. We have been unable to travel, so we are seeking more experiences, but especially now, people are wanting to know the story behind the brands in the cupboard: how they make it, the people and the process behind it.” Graham’s dad was a builder and built the distillery. The design uses many local materials and looks out onto a beautiful view of Galloway Hills. Crafty recommends a slice of fresh mango as a garnish to complement the tropical notes already present, but I found it also works well with orange and grapefruit. On the nose, the first impressions are quite vegetal and savoury - as if the seaweed was flaring out and yet if you linger for just a second, you’ll notice the soft citrus underneath as well as something more woody. Layered and intriguing.

Mix together some dried seaweed powder and sea salt on a saucer. Run a lemon wedge around the rim of a margarita-style glass to wet it, then dip it in the seaweed and sea salt mix. To make the drink, add all the ingredients to a shaker with ice and shake. Strain into the rimmed glass. The tour offers a strong focus on touch, smell and taste to help transport you into the wondrous journey of transforming malted barley into scotch whisky. Your expert guide will carefully explain each stage as you explore our pioneering approach. Experience how our 100% Scottish barley, unique yeast and innovative processes have elevated the possibilities of whisky flavour to create our unique new make spirit.There’s a good reason why Crafty Distillery is awarded 5 stars on Trip Advisor and Visit Scotland. Come and see for yourself and book a one-of-a-kind tour. The selected botanicals are added to the pot the night before along with the painstakingly crafted GNS. The following morning, the other botanicals are added to the vapour basket and the still is turned on. Given that it’s considerably more effort to make your own base spirit, and the fact the spirit is supposed to be tasteless, why bother?

In 2015 the planning permission for a piece of land in his hometown of Newton Stewart was made. This was finally approved in 2016, before the first bottle was distilled in June 2017. The other six botanicals are juniper (of course!), coriander, liquorice root, angelica root, orris root, bay leaf and green Szechuan pepper. Gin DistillingHe was getting ahead of himself at this point, though, as he didn’t yet have a distillery, nor even the land on which to build one. Before too long, though, that was sorted. Graham’s dad, Billy, is a builder, and a pretty good one at that. He’d spotted a piece of land offering uninterrupted views of the Galloway Hills that just so happened to fit into the budget. It was theirs for the taking, so they set to work designing a distillery, making sure it was one that didn’t just respect the land, but took full advantage of it, offering gorgeous, never-ending countryside views.