Daffy’s Foraging and Distilling at Strathmashie
When Daffy’s was born
Daffy’s distiller and co-founder Chris Molyneaux first started distilling gin aged 17 during his first job as a wine maker in France. Chris fell in love the process of creating and enjoying distilled masterpieces and dreamt of someday owning his own distillery. Mignonne (the lady on the botte) and Chris met when they were 19, Mignonne was studying law, Chris then joined her at university before training as a master distiller and distilling around the world.
After a lot of learning and experimentation, Chris and Mignonne set about trying to create the ultimate London Dry Gin. A classic version of the king of gin styles but with a brand new level of finesse and complexity.
Winning World’s Best Gin
A new distillation technique that Chris pioneered called ‘slow cook distillation’ works exceptionally well for unaged spirits such as gin and after over 400 recipe iterations Daffy’s Gin was born and won IWSC ‘world’s best gin’ within the first four months of launching. Focusing on making just one product as well as could possibly be made, Daffy’s was an immediate hit with gin fans and critics.
Daffy’s Distillery and Gin School
Daffy’s distillery and brand home at Strathmashie is in the Cairgorm National Park in the heart of the Scottish Highlands, in an area of outstanding natural beauty. The area surrounding the distillery is one of the most plentiful and special plant and wildlife reserves in Europe and is the ultimate location for foraging and making small batch gins.
For the first time, in October 2018, Daffy’s is opening its doors to the public to offer foraging and gin making masterclasses for those wanting to learn how to distil and create their own ultimate gin with the founders and distillers of Daffy’s.
Rooms at the Distillery
There is also accommodation on site at the distillery offering residential accommodation for those wanting to stay over at the distillery and enjoy the area which is one of the UK’s hidden gems. The Distillery Cottage sleeps 8 and the Butler’s Flat sleeps 5.
Foraging all year round
In the grounds of Daffy’s, there is plentiful foraging all year round. Even in the depths of winter the are various tree leaves and barks, rosehips, yarrow, heather, sorrel and other botanicals under the snow and a roaring fire in the distillery bar to warm you up when you get in from the cold.
The Gin School masterclasses will be for classes of up to 6 at a time for students to design their gin, forage botanicals and then distil their ultimate gin under the guidence Daffy’s distilling experts.
In the distillery there are over 300 dried botanicals from the grounds and hills surrounding the distillery along with many more exotic ingredients from around the globe for students to experiment and distil with.
We would love for you to come visit, see what we get up to and design, forage and distil your very own, ultimate bottle of gin!
