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THE GAEL SPIRITS COMPANY, Scotland, UK
To my regular readers, it will come as no surprise that I’m drawn to brands with a good story, and The Gael Spirits Company certainly has one. In fact, it starts with a piece of music that I have always found rather special.
Dougie MacLean was commissioned by the Loch Ness Visitor Centre to write a Scottish fiddle tune, and the resulting piece, The Gael, subsequently found an entirely different audience when it featured in the soundtrack to The Last of the Mohicans.
The original tune is haunting and beautiful, with a tempo that seems to invite your heart to beat alongside it. The version used for the film is slower and more melancholic.
The Gael Spirits Company was created by four friends, Nigel, Beverley, Jamie and Tanya, whose backgrounds span the drinks and music industries. The idea apparently came about while enjoying, in their own words, “a bit too much gin”. I can think of worse ways to start a business.
Jamie is Dougie MacLean’s son, so choosing The Gael as the musical inspiration for the brand was a wonderfully natural decision. The musical score is incorporated into the bottle design, which I think is a particularly nice touch.
The gin is distilled for The Gael Spirits Company by Strathleven Distillery in Dumbarton. There is something rather lovely about the whole connection between the founders, the music and the spirit. It feels like a genuine story rather than a marketing idea dreamt up around a bottle.
The Gael Signature Scottish Gin is made using a malted barley base spirit, which immediately gives it something a little different. It is five times distilled, with Scottish heather among its botanicals.
The malted barley gives the spirit a richness and creaminess that, to my nose, brings a slightly whisky-like character. It is not particularly juniper-forward, making it more contemporary in style, but it certainly retains everything I want from a gin.
On tasting, I found the juniper softened by the barley, with citrus, spice and gentle floral notes coming through. The finish is warm and smooth, with a lovely balance between the traditional character of gin and something that feels distinctly Scottish.
The botanicals include juniper, heather, cardamom, coriander, cassia bark, liquorice, orange peel, lemon peel, angelica and orris root. Together they create a gin that is considerably more interesting than simply being “the gin inspired by that film”.
I tried The Gael over ice and with ginger ale, both of which worked beautifully. But the serve that really caught my attention was their take on an Old Fashioned. Maple syrup gives it a wonderfully rich, almost unctuous quality. It is dangerously easy to drink — and, sadly, I had run out of waffles!
What I particularly like is that you don’t need to know any of this to enjoy the gin. But once you do know the story, the bottle becomes that little bit more interesting. You can almost hear the music before you’ve even poured yourself a drink.
What do a Scottish fiddle tune, a Hollywood blockbuster and a bottle of gin have in common? Quite a lot, as it turns out.
This is certainly not a novelty gin trading purely on its famous musical connection. The Gael picked up Bronze medals at the International Wine & Spirit Competition in both 2020 and 2021.