A warm welcome

In our first official blog post, we would like to introduce ourselves. We are Dan and Alan, friends who together have established the City of Aberdeen Distillery which is based in a railway arch, in the heart of the city. We both live in Aberdeen and 100% own and run the distillery.

About 5 years ago, we realised that Aberdeen didn’t have a commercial distillery, in fact the last one closed just over 75 years ago. If you love history, take a look at our Aberdeen Distilling article – discover Aberdeen’s distilling past and how we have revived Aberdeen’s lost distilling heritage.

Years in the making

We first met at the University Wine Society many years ago and quickly became friends because we were both into the same things. We’ve been making alcoholic drinks for decades; Dan started making beer when at Uni and Alan has been making wine since he was a teenager. We have a lot of experience of flavour and flavour combination along with engineering expertise that gives us a unique ability to bring something new not only to the area, but also to the gin market itself.

The distilling journey

It was around 2013 when we realised that the flavourings we were putting in our drinks were the same as those then being used in Gin and indeed we had begun creating macerated gins – that’s a gin made by soaking the ingredients rather than using a still. That is as close as you can get to distilling at home (legally). Our jobs at the time were in engineering and research but we were ready for a change – so we decided to setup Aberdeen’s 1st distillery in 75 years. 

We are both very proud to be in Aberdeen but also to be of Aberdeen. This goes to the root of our values and because of that, we have employed local trades to build the distillery whenever we could. Our fit out was completed by a local firm using local Joiners, Plumbers, Electricians, and Metal Workers. Our branding and styling were also created right here in Aberdeen City. We even grow some of our botanicals here in Aberdeen.

The internal space of the City of Aberdeen Distillery has been sympathetically styled to accord with the historic railway arch resulting in a cozy atmosphere and a feeling of discovery.

A unique combination

No one else in the UK has setup a business offering the combination of on-site distillation, a gin school and genuine small batch demi-john sampling and sales that we offer.
For the people of Aberdeen, for the first time, this gives the opportunity to enjoy spirits distilled, bottled and sold right here in Aberdeen City.

We are always looking to experiment with new flavours – visit the distillery to try our range of demi-johns – we love to hear your feedback. The most popular demi-johns will earn a place in our core range.

We’d like to thank everyone who has made the distillery possible – we may have had the idea, but could not have brought it to life without all the help and support.

We hope you’ll come along and visit the distillery and say hello – we have a selection of demi-johns filled with gin that we have distilled here in Aberdeen and please do pop in and try from our latest demi-johns, let us know what you think and even buy a bottle to take home (available in various sizes).
Visit the distillery and try our range of demi-johns, and if you like one (or more) ask us to fill a bottle for you to take home (£12-£35).