A ginuine treat: Lidl launches debut craft gin festival

With Scotland’s love affair with artisan gin showing no signs of slowing down, Lidl is quenching the thirst of gin fans with the creation of its very first Scottish Gin Festival.

Distillers throughout the country will benefit from a combined business deal worth more than £180,000, as the festival lands across all Scottish stores on Thursday 3rd May, featuring eight gins from six artisan Scottish producers at great value prices.

The new collection, which will be available while stocks last, proudly showcases the craft gin landscape across the length and breadth of Scotland, with gins sourced from Shetland, Orkney, Perthshire, Edinburgh and Glasgow. Four gins are brand new to supermarket shelves, and there are offers on a Deluxe Botanical Set and a selection of new premium tonic waters, so customers can impress trial cocktail recipes, garnishes and botanicals to create the perfect tipple.

Thanks to a huge surge in craft spirit production, Scotland’s gin credentials are on the rise, currently accounting for 70% of the UK’s gin supply. Sales of Lidl’s gin range have increased by 41% in the last year across UK stores; testament to the booming interest.

Gins included as part of the festival:

Makar’s new Cask Matured Oak Aged Gin

New to Lidl shelves, this unique gin is aged in oak barrels for 8 weeks to give smokey pine and baked vanilla flavours

Perfect serve: Ginger beer & slice of fresh lime

Price: £19.99 (50cl)

Makar Original Dry Gin

This fresh gin produced in Glasgow has citrus notes with liquorice, pepper and a smooth dry finish

Perfect serve: Tonic water & sliced green chilli pepper

Price: 19.99 (50cl)

Strathearn Heather Rose Gin

A smooth, delicate drink perfectly balanced with rose and heather to create a light floral sweetness.

Perfect serve: Chilled prosecco & fresh raspberries

Price: £19.99 (50cl)

Strathearn Scottish Gin

A first to supermarket shelves – Gentle peppery spice finishing with citrus sherbet, this juniper led gin is double distilled on a working farm in the Perthshire countryside

Perfect serve: Tonic water & twist of orange peel

Price: £24.99 (70cl)

Tideline Gin

Brand new to the market and exclusive to Lidl, this new gin is distilled in a traditional copper pot still using botanicals foraged from the family garden

Perfect serve: Tonic water & clementine

Price: £19.99 (50cl)

Shetland Reel Simmer Gin

Produced on Shetland’s most northerly isle, this brand new exclusive gin provides the perfect summer tipple that balances orange and spice to create bitter sweet marmalade notes

Perfect serve: Tonic water, orange peel & a sprig of rosemary

Price: £24.99 (70cl)

Ginerosity

A gin with a big heart, Ginerosity is the world’s first social enterprise gin, with profits going towards supporting disadvantaged young adults, and is distilled using ethically sourced botanicals giving a crisp peppery finish.

Perfect serve: Tonic water & fresh mint leaves

Price: £19.99

Kirkjuvagr Harpa Gin

Handcrafted, this is a fruity crisp gin made with traditional local botanicals from the island and Orkney bere barley

Perfect serve: Tonic water & fresh summer berries

Price: £19.99

 

Lidl already holds a strong reputation in gin production, with the supermarkets own premium Hortus gin range, winning Good Housekeeping Institute taste test in April 2018, and the famous pink ‘Rhubarb and Ginger’ and ‘Scottish Raspberry’ liqueurs selling over 400 bottles per hour when it first hit shelves in November 2017. Lidl hope to continue to expand their product range even further in 2018.