Made in Scotland: Wild Thyme Spirits

For the last few years we have been running the Made in Scotland blog with J Boult Designs,  hoping to discover new businesses and highlight the quality of produce and craft made in Scotland. We were very excited to hear all about how Finlay and Eileen Geekie started Wild Thyme Spirits, selling delicious Gin and other spirits, gorgeously designed and packaged, from their home in the Southern Hebrides, on the island of Colonsay.

In August 2016, husband and wife team, Finlay and Eileen Geekie, packed up all their worldly possessions, left behind the hustle and bustle of Oxfordshire, where they’d lived for over 30 years, and moved to their newly completed, self-build house, to start a new life on the tiny, remote Hebridean island of Colonsay. Their new business provides them with the opportunity to combine their love of all things gin with their desire to create a viable future, living and working on this wild island, and, at the same time, make a significant contribution to the future sustainability and ongoing development of the local island economy and community as a whole.

Can you tell us how your business got started?

We always wanted to live on an island off the west coast of Scotland and, in 2007, off the back of a failed attempt to buy a property on Tiree, we ended up buying a place on Colonsay, an island we’d never visited before. Neither of us wanted to retire and needed something to do once we moved to the island, and by the time the house was finished (2016! – it was a long ‘journey’) we were quite into the gin scene down south and decided to make our own!

 

 

Where do you look for inspiration when you are designing new products?

Celtic mythology is always the first stop, followed by the island itself.

Can you tell us a bit more about how you make your products?

Copper Still (called Jeanette or ‘Jinty’ for short) is charged with 100 litres of Grain Neutral Spirit and 7 dried botanicals: Juniper Berries, Orange Peel, Angelica Root, Orris Root Powder, Calamus Root, Liquorice Root and Coriander Seeds.

The Still is heated and the vapour is condensed, removing the initial ‘heads’ before collecting the ‘hearts’ over a four-hour period. The remaining ‘tails’ and spent botanicals are discarded.

The distillate is then cut to the required bottling strength with water.

 

 

What are your most popular products and which are your own favourites?

Colonsay Gin Original and Colonsay Gin – Cait Sith our Old Tom style gin.

If you had to pick one place in Scotland to recommend that people visit, where would it be?

Kiloran Bay, Colonsay

 

Thanks so much to Eileen and Finlay for chatting with us about their Made in Scotland business. Keep an eye out for their distinctive, and delicious, gin as you travel around Scotland. They also offer a Gin Lovers Retreat to their distillery which sounds like a wonderful way to spend a weekend! You can find out more about Wild Thyme Spirits or order online on their website or by following them on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.