Julian Vallis says:“I like Achroous because of it breaking the mould by being a ‘sessionable’ gin with an Old Tom character, despite it having no added sugar. Created to celebrate Caorunn’s 10-year anniversary, the gin adds fresh raspberries to their famous copper berry chamber for the distillation. If you think of a gin that has the smell of a malting floor and added juniper, this is Tobermory. Since I’m a whisky drinker, this is right up my street and Tobermory makes an absolutely excellent Martinez and Negroni that sort of become very Rob Roy and Boulevardier-like due to the whisky notes coming through.”

Launching in July 2018, King’s Hill Gin takes its name from a bet between King Robert the Bruce and Sir William ‘The Crusader’ Sinclair, which took place in the Pentland Hills, where the distillery is based. Made with 12 botanicals including the locally foraged gorse, heather, wild rosehip and elderflower. Made with 17 botanicals including its signature ingredient, carageen seaweed (also known as Irish moss), foraged on the island, Barra Atlantic Gin helps transports you to the Outer Hebridean island – and the most westerly distillery in the country. The second expression from Raven Spirits to make it onto our list, like its sister expression, Hrafn Thought & Memory features mandarin as its signature botanical.Created by James Porteous, Achroous Gin has built a strong reputation as an exceptional Scottish Gin, culminating in winning double gold at the prestigious San Fransisco World Spirits Competition.

While the original Caorunn Gin is one of Scotland’s best known and loved gins, it’s the recently launched Caorunn Raspberry that The Gin Shelf has selected as one of his top Scottish gins. Where Valhalla is a beautiful sipping gin, Thought & Memory is stunning as a longer drink – and it makes a mean G&T.You can tell immediately that this is a well-crafted gin when opening the bottle for the first time. Nothing overpowers, nothing jolts. It smells like a quality gin. The batch size is small, at just 1,000 litres. The neutral spirit has vapourised through a Copper Berry Chamber containing the botanicals. This chamber looks a little like a round beehive, with trays of these botanicals ready to gently impart their aromas. The Ginasium says:“I first came across this Verdant Gin at a show in London where Andrew gave a talk that captured his enthusiasm… a mix of old tradition and innovation. It’s a dry gin reflecting its one-shot method, but the botanicals and distilling of the raw spirit have produced a juniper-forward silky smooth spirit with a lovely but curious immediate sweetness, which is followed by a peppery warmth and finish. We tried Caorunn neat and we’re not going to advocate that. Some gins work very well neat (like these recommendations for neat gin), but it wasn’t for us – we felt it needed the tonic. Sample botanicals: in addition to the juniper, there are some traditional botanicals such as cassia bark, angelica root, coriander, orange and lemon peel. However, there and five more that are locally-foraged: rowan berry, dandelion, heather, bog myrtle and coul blush apple. Illustrations of these are nicely displayed through the bottle too. The results are highly regarded as they are independently audited by a panel of experts and judged live in a rigorously assessed blind tasting event.