ISGD was recently set up by the Gin Cooperative to help a global audience discover the world of Scottish Gin and showcase Scotland as a visitors destination.
The day is predicated to become an annual celebration of Scotland’s gin makers and gin brands.
Events company No.18, the organisers of the popular Gin Fayre events, recently appointed a new Scotland Events Manager, Finlay Cowe, and wanted to host a special event on the day.
Desiring a venue in a good location, they decided to host it in the historic Mansfield Traquair in Edinburgh.
The stunning Mansfield Traquair will play host to the event. Picture: GC
The venue, which has been described as “Edinburgh’s Sistine Chapel”, will play host to a variety of Scottish Gin makers and brands on Saturday 3rd of August 2019 as part of the Gin Fayre event, the first official large-scale event confirmed as part of International Scottish Gin Day 2019, with more events to be announced in the coming weeks.
Jasmine Wheelhouse, founder and director of No. 18 and The Gin Fayre said: “We’re absolutely thrilled to be hosting such a large scale event in Edinburgh. It’s an incredibly exciting year for The Gin Fayre and our events have proved a huge success with gin-lovers nationwide.
"Since our inception just two years ago, we’ve held numerous sell-out events across Scotland and also been awarded Scotland’s Best Scottish Gin Event.
“Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the world's largest arts festival and so it makes perfect sense to coincide The Gin Fayre with its opening. We believe that this particular Gin Fayre event will bring a whole host of benefits to Edinburgh, including tourism and increased commercial opportunities.
"Scotland has a brilliant opportunity to be a world leading destination for food and drink and there’s no reason why Scottish Gin can’t have a starring role.”
“We’re passionate about engaging local gin enthusiasts with some of Scotland’s most talented gin brands and International Scottish Gin Day will allow us to do this on a larger scale. Our continued success has been based on our unique business model which ensures the customer has direct access to gin brands that we know they’re going to love.
“We are incredibly honoured to work with an amazing array of Scottish gin producers and we hope that through the work we’re doing with International Scottish Gin Day, we can continue to boost their profile and really fly the flag for Scottish Gin.”
International Scottish Gin Day was established by The Gin Cooperative, the business behind the dedicated Scottish Gin website, to help celebrate and promote Scottish Gins to a global audience.
Just over a year old, the team say they have seen their online Scottish Gin directory grow and website traffic increase dramatically since their launch.
Natalie Reid, co-founder of The Gin Cooperative said: “We wanted to create a day that could help share the story of Scottish Gin. There are so many talented people creating amazing Scottish Gins and brilliant brands, that we wanted to showcase these people to a global audience. We’ve given participants free rein to create their own events to suit their needs.
"As soon as we announced our intentions last year to make Saturday the 3rd of August International Scottish Gin Day, Jasmine contacted us to see how she could be involved.
"With a proven track record of putting on really great gin events, we knew Jasmine and her team would be able to organise something great as part of ISGD 2019. Having seen the venue that Jasmine and Finlay have secured, we’re very excited.
“The fact that ISGD 2019 lands on the opening weekend of the Edinburgh Fringe isn’t by chance either. We wanted to try and capture the attention of some of the global visitors who visit Scotland each year to attend the fringe and holiday here. Scotland has a brilliant opportunity to be a world leading destination for food and drink and there’s no reason why Scottish Gin can’t have a starring role.”
Martin Reid, co-founder of The Gin Cooperative added: “There are a variety of events currently being discussed including some really exciting international collaborations with some of the world's best bars, gin bars and cocktail bars. So far, we had confirmed participants from Melbourne, Barcelona, Hong-Kong, San Francisco, London, New York and of course Edinburgh.
"We’re working around the clock at the moment as there is only myself and Natalie, but with a lot of hard work, collaboration with others in the Scottish Gin community, including the many great Scottish Gin makers and brands we work with, International Scottish Gin Day 2019 will be a fantastic showcase of Scottish Gin”.
• Early bird tickets for the event are now available online at a discounted price of £17.00 from - www.ginfayre.co.uk
30 of the best Scottish gins including the Scottish Gin of the Year
