Tyree Gin

Made with Kelp & Machair Botanicals from the Inner Hebridean island of Tiree, Tyree Gin is an exciting addition to the ‘Hebridean Gin’ market.

Alongside the core botanicals, the predominant flavour of Tyree Gin is achieved through six locally foraged botanicals: Eyebright, Ladies Bedstraw, Water Mint and Angelica collected from the island’s rich and fertile machair ground together with Kelp and Sea-Belt from the wild Atlantic Ocean which combine impeccably to create a true taste of Tiree.

The kelp forests surrounding Tiree are the fourth largest in Scottish waters and this abundance fuelled the island’s kelp industry.

Seaweed has been used from the earliest times as animal fodder, for medicinal use, for human consumption and as a fertiliser for hay and potatoes.

By the 18th Century, kelp was providing an income for locals who burnt it locally to produce alkalis and in 1863, a factory was built in Middleton where the seaweed was used to produce iodine. The factory, named the ‘Glassary’, closed in 1901 and some of its walls were used to build road and runway foundations in the Second World War.

Tyree was the original spelling for Tiree’s Post Office, established in Scarinish in 1802. This spelling is displayed on a brass plate, which survives from the Glassary, engraved with `NORTH BRITISH CHEMICAL CO. LD. TYREE NO. 1`. The name was changed to Tiree in 1889.