Scotland’s gins and their makers
News about gin, Scotland and The Gin Clan books
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Gold-plated backstage pass
As an author and journalist, I am often allowed to see behind the scenes – the things people don’t often get to see – and usually I write about them. Now, I’ve put my inside knowledge to good use by making a podcast and sharing my backstage pass with listeners. For my very first podcast,…
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Behind the scenes
AUTHOR AT WORK: LIGHTHOUSES In January, I set goals for the year and developing a portfolio of travel writing was one of them. By the end of the month I’d made a good start with a visit to Angus. Gradually through the pandemic the fruits of January’s trip were published – mostly in print so…
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Gin families
It sometimes seems that the current love affair with gin is a UK wide phenomenon but there are different forces at work in different places. Yorkshire Day (1 August) seemed like a good time to compare the gin scenes from the areas of my two books. My thoughts are in the article posted on the…
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Author escape – Angus
NEXT ADVENTURE I sent the last text for my next book Yorkshire’s Gins to the publisher in January, and immediately set off to the East Coast of Scotland to do research for some articles based around the 700th anniversary of the Declaration of Arbroath, the document asking the Pope to recognise Scotland’s independence and acknowledge…
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Yorkshire’s Gins
WHAT THE GIN CLAN DID NEXT A year ago, a comprehensive guide to Scottish gins made its appearance on the bookshelves. Now Fiona Laing, the author of The Gin Clan, has surveyed all the gins of Yorkshire. Using the same approach as The Gin Clan, Fiona has profiled all the members of Yorkshire’s gin distilling clan who make their own…
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Virtual journeys 1
On a Borders Breather The writing of The Gin Clan was pretty intense at times, but it was a delight to be transported to different parts of Scotland. These virtual journeys often brought back happy memories of real visits. As I was writing up the profile of the Lilliard ginnery, I recalled a trip to…
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Competition time
The Ginden is running a competition to win a copy of The GIN CLAN. What you need to know is that it’s on Instagram and the deadline is 5 November. Oh, and there is a bottle of gin involved! Here are a few of the details from @theginden to get you started … It’s competition…
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East Lothian calls
Festival first for North Berwick I’m looking forward to exploring Scottish gin at The Nether Abbey Hotel’s first ever gin festival. The weekend of the 8 & 9 November will see the North Berwick hotel transformed for its annual beer festival and this year a gin festival will be running alongside it. It will be…
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Festival time
Author on the stage at Edinburgh Foodies 2 August
The GIN CLAN 