About Us
Ardcraig Distillery stands on the wind-struck edge of the Moray Firth, on land once home to a 19th-century glasshouse estate known for cultivating rare citrus fruit. The old estate—Ardcraig House—was built by marine botanist Dr. Isla Kincraig, who spent her life studying how coastal air shaped plant oils and aromas. She imported lemon, bitter orange, and even early yuzu specimens, nurturing them in a heated Victorian glasshouse that overlooked the North Sea.
Over time, storms battered the estate, and after her passing in 1912, the gardens fell silent. The glasshouse remained as a ghostly silhouette against the Highland sky for over a century.
In 2017, siblings Euan and Maeve Kincraig, great-great-grandchildren of Isla, returned to Ardcraig after careers in food science and hospitality. Inspired by their ancestor’s research notebooks—filled with obsessively detailed notes on citrus volatile compounds and maritime botanicals—they rebuilt the estate and founded Ardcraig Distillery.
Their mission is to create spirits that capture the interplay of sunlight, complex botanicals, and coastal air. Their first release, Ardcraig Summer Citrus Gin, was distilled in a custom copper pot still named The Gull Wing, designed to encourage delicate vapour infusion of fresh citrus peel.
Many botanicals, which are used to infuse the estate's Autumn Fruit, Summer Citrus and Winter Spice Gins, still grow in small numbers in an estate greenhouse, echoing Dr. Isla’s original experiments. The distillery’s unique microclimate—salty breezes, cool nights, and long summer light—helps shape both the botanicals and the flavour philosophy.
Today, Ardcraig Distillery is known for bold, luminous flavoured gins rooted in the landscape and the legacy of a forgotten botanist.
