Drinking Culture

Gin palaces like London's never existed in the Highlands. Hotel bars and pubs dominate here, places where a dram of whisky traditionally takes centre stage. Gin has been elbowing its way in since the craft distilling wave, often right at the source. Isle of Harris Distillery in Tarbert has its own bar, where ferry passengers squeeze in a tasting between two CalMac crossings, often still carrying the salt air on their jackets.

Gin and tonic here is usually served in a large, rounded balloon glass, a trend that arrived from Spain and has since taken hold in Scottish bars. The garnish follows the recipe: apple or mint with The Botanist, grapefruit with Isle of Harris Gin, a slice of apple with Caorunn, fitting given the Coul Blush apple in its recipe. Ask for it, and you'll usually get the matching garnish without a second thought.

The Spirit of Speyside Festival started out as a purely whisky affair. Gin tastings are now a fixed part of the programme, with stalls set up right at distilleries like Balmenach. It's not a standalone gin festival like you'd find in some English cities. It remains a second string to the existing whisky festival's bow, but one that grows a little every year.

In Edinburgh and Glasgow, island gins increasingly show up in the Martini, stirred dry, with a twist of lemon. Out on the islands themselves, that's still rare. There, the gin and tonic remains the standard, usually reached for in the evening after dinner rather than as an aperitif. A pre-dinner drink is hardly known in Tarbert, but a quiet one afterward certainly is.