Pickering Gin Distillery in Edinburgh

Pickering Gin Distillery was founded by friends and business partners Marcus Pickering and Matt Gammell and creates hand-crafted gins famous for ‘full-bodied flavour with perfect bitter-sweet balance’. If you’re a fan of gin, this is the place for you. Please note that all guests must be 18 years or older. Tour guides are very knowledgeable and passionate about what they do and are happy to answer any questions or give recommendations for excellent gin recipes to try at home.

You should allow about an hour and a half to tour the facility, and reservations are required. Tours meet in the Royal Dick bar and include samples and tours of the Summerhall Distillery where Pickering Gin is produced and bottled. You'll also make a stop at the Old Workshop with wacky inventions, such as the Monkeybike, which is described as ‘the smallest mobile gin bar in the world’.

Pickering Gin Distillery in Edinburgh - one of the highlights of 11 Things to Do Off the Beaten Track in Edinburgh (Read all about Edinburgh here)

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Highlights of Pickering Gin Distillery

Tours begin in The Royal Dick bar where you will enjoy a gin & tonic before heading next door to Summerhill Distillery to see the distinct process of Pickering’s production first-hand. Next, you can examine the distillery’s signature inventions in the Old Workshop. Here, you will see wacky inventions like the Tip Top Tippling Trunk, which is a vintage suitcase decorated with stickers from Matt & Marcus’s travels and is filled with music, lights and gin tasting necessities. You'll also see the Marvelly Mixed Musical Martini Maker Mark II, The Engine 47, Mabel the Labeller and Monkeybike. Finally, you'll head back to the bar where you can sample 3 hand-crafted Pickerings gins explained in detail by an expert tour guide.

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Products at Pickering Gin Distillery

Although the original recipe is from 1947, Pickering has only been in production since 2014, shortly after one of the proprietors inherited a gin recipe from a family friend. Marcus and Matt had no experience with distilling, but the company was born of their love of gin, tons of research, experiments and testing. Their recipe uses a blend of 9 Bombay botanicals, including juniper, cinnamon, cardamom, lemon, lime, cloves, coriander, anise, fennel and angelica. At the distillery shop, you can purchase bottles of the traditional gin, 57.1 proof Navy Strength or flavoured varieties, including blood orange, strawberry and black pepper. You can also pick up souvenirs and accessories, like the cocktails-at-home recipe book or a signature goblet.

Good to know about Pickering Gin Distillery

Be sure to visit the distillery shop after your tour, where you'll receive a discount on any purchases. You can find the distillery in Summerhall Cafe off of the A700 at Summerhall Square. The area is home to the well-known Summerhall arts venue, which includes theatres, studios, workshops and galleries for you to explore when your tour is complete. If you'd like to grab a bite to eat before the tour, the Royal Dick bar serves delicious appetisers, including fried calamari, steak pie, crab cakes and poutine, in its spacious courtyard dining room. There is also a large selection of restaurants, including fast food, Mexican, Tibetan, Indian and local cuisine just minutes away.

Location: 1 Summerhall Summerhall Distillery, Edinburgh EH9 1PL, UK

Open: Saturday–Sunday from noon to 7 pm, Monday–Thursday from 10 am to 5 pm, Friday from 10 am to 6 pm

Phone: +44 (0)1312 902901

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