Summerhall Distillery was founded by two friends, Matt Gammel and Marcus Pickering, who, sharing a love for gin, inherited an original gin recipe from 1947 that would fuel their passion to open their own distillery. Using this recipe, they created the first version of their award-winning gins in 2013, thus starting their journey as “Botanical Engineers.” In 2014, Summerhall Distillery opened its doors and became the first gin distillery to be established in Edinburgh for over 150 years. Today, they have an innovative and passionate distillery crew that is continuously looking to ameliorate their products with new and interesting flavours and the highest quality.

The Distillery
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Situated in Edinburgh, Scotland

Summerhall Distillery is located in the heart of Edinburgh in the world-famous Summerhall Arts Venue, which was previously used as the University Veterinary School. The distillery was built from scratch by the founders Matthew Gammel and Marcus Pickering, and is a fully bonded distillery and warehouse. To produce their spirits, they have two 500L alembic copper stills, whom they’ve named Emily and Gertrude. These stills are fitted with custom-built bain marie water jackets to allow greater control over the heating process during distillation, which results in their exceptionally smooth, award-winning spirits. At Summerhall Distillery, they distill, bottle, label and fulfill every bottle in-house, with the ability to do so in almost any size, from kegs and litre bottles, to miniatures and baubles.

Being nestled amongst galleries, workshops, theaters, studios, and restaurants created the perfect opportunity to seek new opportunities and collaborations to grow their business. Since opening their distillery, they have expanded into a multi-spirit production facility, with the ability to produce gin, rum, blended and single malt whiskies. Interestingly, next door to the distillery is a bar called The Royal Dick, which offers Pickering’s Gin by tap, piped directly from the distillery. This gives a sense of inclusion and community to Pickering’s, which aligns well with the founder’s philosophy.

The People
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Matthew Gammel and Marcus Pickering were friends and business partners years before the idea of Summerhall Distillery or Pickering’s Gin was formed. They have backgrounds in engineering, furniture restoration and property renovation, all of which proved beneficial when they embarked on the adventure of building a distillery from scratch and engineering their perfectly smooth, award-winning gins.

Prior to starting Pickering’s Gin, Matt and Marcus noticed an empty space in the Summerhall Arts Venue that used to be used for animal kennels when it was the University Veterinary School. At about the same time, Marcus inherited an old 1947 gin recipe given to him by a friend of his late father. As inspiration would have it, they dreamt up the ambitious idea of starting their own distillery, despite having little knowledge on how to do so. This exciting idea became the catalyst that led them to start the first gin distillery in over 150 years in Edinburgh. Today, they have a full fledged team and sell their products across the globe.