It started with two friends
Neither came from a traditional distilling background. Matt was a mechanical engineer by trade, and Marcus a devoted gin enthusiast known for his experimentation. Together, they founded Summerhall Distillery in 2013 and became the Botanical Engineers.
Building Our Distillery
Back to the beginning
Casting back to 2013, our distillery looked nothing like a distillery, but an old and neglected animal hospital of the Royal Dick Vet School. First things first, 24 dog and cat kennels had to be removed. Matt & Marcus decided to keep eight of the original kennels, which are found hidden in the still room under our containers.
Time to roll up our sleeves!
Matt pictured standing above where Summerhall Distillery offices are now! Walls, floors and roofs were torn down and built back up again to contstruct Summerhall Distillery HQ. From an idea to real life, Matt & Marcus rolled their sleeves up to build our distillery in just 6 months!
We did everything ourselves
Our team became plumbers, plasterers and tilers overnight - we really did everything ourselves! Once the structural work was complete, it was time to bring in the distilling equipment. Our copper stills are imported from Portugal, and our first label machine was hand-made from various materials, including MDF, a phone charger & plumbing pipes!
Hand-crafted Spirits
Distilling
Taking an idea and making it real starts in our botanical room. The research and development stage begins where our distillers test and perfect the key notes and flavours of the spirit. Botanicals are weighed precisely by hand, and the liquid is distilled in a small pot still. We use copper pot stills to ensure the flavour and purity of our liquid is the best, as well as using triple-filtered Scottish fallen water to dilute our spirits after distillation.
Bottling
Our unique bottling station is a very technical process and a labour of love! Our equipment was meticulously engineered by Matt so that we can bottle almost anything. With Matt manually making bar optics to fill our 5cl mini bottles. Keeping it local to Summerhall, we worked with our fellow neighbours to construct various parts of our bottling process, including our trusty manual bottle capper borrowed from Barney’s Beer.
Labelling
When you ask our distilling team about our label machine, they will say when it works, it works perfectly! However, quite like our bottling process, this is another labour of love – see a theme here?
Our Distillery Today
Our small but perfectly formed distillery is now home to Pickering's Gin and The Broody Hen Scotch Whisky. From a pipe dream around the kitchen table to a distillery producing 2,500 litres of spirit a week, and became the first exclusive gin distillery in Edinburgh for over 150 years.
The Launch
Pickering's Gin
With 350 bottles of delicious Gin a party was thrown at Summerhall Distillery, to celebrate the official launch of Pickering's Gin. The drinks were flowing, and our stills were glowing as guests marvelled at our distillery - not a single drop of Gin was left!
Pickering's Gin
Our First Big Break
In July 2014, only 4 months after launch, we hit it big, becoming The Official Gin of The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo with the release of our Navy Strength Gin. Bottled at 57.1% and topped with a unique bearskin cap.
Pickering's Gin
The First Gin-Filled Baubles
The world went crazy for Gin Baubles! After going viral in 2016, Pickering's Gin Baubles made a mere appearance online as 30,000 units sold out in just 82 seconds in 2017.
Amazing Partnerships To Be Made
With gin tasting so good under our Pickering's Gin brand, others wanted their own. Amazing partnerships came to be, including The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, British Airways, Cunard Cruiselines and The Royal Yacht Britannia.
The Broody Hen
Launching Our First Whisky
We've kept this hidden spirit close to the nest. We’ve worked hard to create this beautifully blended scotch whisky. Wise beyond its years, it’s the inaugural release before the launch of The Broody Hen Single Malt.
Who We've Worked With
