- 1 year ago
Sam Heughan launches Galloway distillery
The Outlander star has taken over the former Crafty Distillery and rebranded it as Galloway Distillery
The Outlander star has taken over the former Crafty Distillery and rebranded it as Galloway Distillery
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00:00I'm Roslyn Derskin, Food and Jink Editor for The Scotsman, and I'm here at Galloway Distillery with Sam Heughan.
00:06Cheers, good to see you. Thanks for coming here.
00:08That's all right, thanks for having us.
00:10So we are here today because you've got a big announcement, it's exciting news.
00:14Do you want to tell us what's going on?
00:15Yes, we're here in Galloway. This is the Galloway Distillery.
00:20It's a project we've been working on for a number of years, but I'm really happy.
00:23It's our opening day. The weather gods have brought the Galloway Scottish weather,
00:27but we're really happy. It's a place that we're really hoping to expand on and produce really special spirits.
00:36So you've taken over?
00:38Yes. This is a new project. We wanted to create a distillery in Galloway.
00:43It's basically a homecoming for me. I was born and raised here.
00:47I feel very, very thankful. It's such an amazing place.
00:50People come to Scotland, especially tourists, and they go up north and they go to Skye and they go to Glencoe,
00:55but actually there's so much to discover in Galloway.
00:59It really has so much from the coastline to amazing ruins to stone circles and, of course, amazing spirits.
01:07And my journey here was basically I started working with the guys here on our wild Scottish gin a number of years ago.
01:17And we realised that we really wanted to create a new distillery here in New Galloway.
01:22And so we've got the Sassanac, right?
01:24This is the Sassanac, yeah.
01:25Yeah.
01:26So we're a house of many brands now.
01:28We have the Galloway Distillery.
01:30We have the Sassanac in Goldsquit Hills and Harbour, and we're going to start producing today.
01:34We're about to fill our first barrel of Galloway whisky.
01:37And you're producing a vodka as well, is that right?
01:40Sassanac?
01:40We are, yes.
01:42It's the best of Scotland's produce.
01:46The wheat is from Galloway.
01:47So Galloway wheat.
01:48I looked at different kinds of vodkas, and I wasn't much of a vodka fan, and I really dug into it.
01:54And we realised Scotland produces amazing wheat.
01:57And then we realised actually apples and brambles adds like a real crisp freshness to it, a brightness to it.
02:03But also the brambles add this like, I don't know, like richness to it.
02:07So it's very luxurious vodka, really delicious.
02:11So I think we'll have a lot of converts when they try this vodka.
02:14And I was speaking to Craig earlier, because you are very heavily involved with creation of these.
02:18Because you know how there's some, you know, famous people who just put their names to things,
02:21but you're actually really quite involved, aren't you?
02:23I mean, the Galloway distillery is my dream.
02:28Self-financed.
02:30We've been working on this for a long time.
02:31The Sassanac, obviously, is the same.
02:35Yeah, absolutely.
02:36And I think poor Craig, our master distiller, you know, I put him through the ringer with the gin and then the vodka.
02:41We thought the vodka would be easy, but actually, it turns out it's actually really complicated.
02:46But I think we've created something really, really special, really unique.
02:49I think people are going to really warm to it.
02:51And, you know, I think it's a real representation of great Scottish produce.
02:57And can you tell us a bit about the whiskey that you're putting in the cask today?
03:00Today we're doing a PX Cherry cask.
03:03We have hundreds of barrels already that we've been putting aside and laying down.
03:12But this is our first one from the Galloway distillery.
03:14So, yeah, we're going to have a real, I don't know, a real exploration of what is good Galloway whiskey.
03:20We also are growing our own barley.
03:23We have a couple of fields of barley here.
03:25So we're thinking about, you know, obviously at some point we'd love to do a single malt.
03:29But, yeah, there's a lot of ideas out there.
03:33I think perhaps the first whiskey release will probably be a blend because obviously it takes time.
03:40But we're getting there and I'm really excited.
03:42The whiskey is phenomenal.
03:43Our new make is amazing.
03:45Yeah, because there's been a lot of sort of technical work with the university.
03:48And, you know, it's not just your usual distillery.
03:51I've seen it and it's quite...
03:53We go to the nth degree.
03:55Craig is, you know, a master of what he does.
03:58And, you know, even looking at the gin process, you know, we've got, you know, we're freeze drying botanicals.
04:05We're creating resins.
04:06We're really kind of going in depth to it.
04:09And I think if you try our new make, I'm just really amazed to see where it goes when it's been aged in wood
04:14because it's got some really interesting kind of like tropical fruit flavor in it.
04:21So, yeah, we'll see what happens when it sits in a delicious sherry cask for a number of years.
04:26And so, yeah, first release another blend.
04:28So it'll be another kind of similar to the one you've already got.
04:32Yeah, I mean, we actually haven't decided.
04:34We've got a number of avenues we're looking at.
04:35But I would love to do, you know, something that's slightly different.
04:40Obviously, we've got, you know, this beautiful Sassanac whiskey, which is a great blend.
04:44But, yeah, I don't know how we're going to finish it yet.
04:46We've got a number of avenues.
04:47I love wine barrels as well.
04:50I think they'll be really interesting.
04:52Maybe dessert wine.
04:54Who knows?
04:55Yeah, I mean, it's exciting times.
04:57It's honestly, it's like a playground.
04:59It's amazing getting to play with different barrels and seeing how it ages over time as well.
05:03And obviously, you know, things take time here in Scotland.
05:06The weather's not the best.
05:07But it's so fun.
05:09These guys we're working with are amazing.
05:11Our whole team here, so hardworking.
05:13And we're just trying to create, as you can see, you know, this sort of beautiful surroundings.
05:18There's so much nature, so much history in Galloway.
05:20So we want to impart a bit of that to people that come visit.
05:24And, you know, you've talked about your childhood here and, like, you know, this is your coming home.
05:28How much do you see yourself spending time here, like, possibly in the future?
05:32I mean, I've already been here a lot.
05:35You know, we came down.
05:36These are our botties that we've built.
05:39These are made with 100% Scottish oak.
05:42Handmade.
05:43There's no, like, nails or anything.
05:44It's all been wood pegs.
05:46So it's really crafted.
05:48And we want to make these into tasting rooms.
05:51You can hire them either separately or together.
05:53We want to do different tastings.
05:55I've been down here a lot.
05:56You know, this wasn't here at all.
05:57We've put down all this paving, created this outdoor area, and planted over 100 botanicals,
06:03which are all coming up now, which look fantastic and smell amazing.
06:07You can smell them now.
06:07But, yeah, so I'm heavily involved.
06:09I'll be here a lot, as much as I can be.
06:11Nice.
06:12Any future plans that you can tell us about?
06:17Yeah, we've planning permission, and we're working towards a larger whiskey distillery,
06:23which will be over the site.
06:25Which is to the east of the current distillery.
06:29It's where the car park is now.
06:31Yeah, we'd love to expand and just invite more people down, not just to see the distillery,
06:36but to see Galloway.
06:37It's got so much to offer.
06:38You know, as I said, there's great coastlines, amazing history, amazing castles and food producers.
06:44So we want to celebrate them as well.
06:46So we're trying to highlight a lot of craft people.
06:49We've got amazing ceramicists who's doing our, I guess, our tableware, our glassware.
06:55We've got some leather makers.
06:59We've got local illustrators doing our logo and our branding.
07:02So we really want to, like, help, I don't know, showcase Galloway and everything it has to offer.
07:08So when you came to these guys for your gym, did you sort of come with the idea of, like, with the distillery,
07:13like, taking over the distillery, or did it all kind of happen?
07:16We've actually been looking for a long time.
07:18We had a number of different sites that we were looking at.
07:20But, honestly, this just felt right.
07:24You know, the guys here, all local boys, I'm a local boy, and I just love working with them.
07:31And then we realized, you know, this is an opportunity, and we decided that Galloway needs its own distillery, its own brand.
07:39I think Scotland itself needs a new region.
07:43I think the Galloway should be its own region.
07:45It's such an amazing place, very different to the rest of Scotland, you know, 12 miles from Ireland.
07:51You can see the lights of Ireland.
07:53You can see the Isle of Man.
07:54You can see England, the Lake Districts across the Solway of Firth.
07:57It's had history of, like, Vikings here, you know, the Romans.
08:01You've got the Gales, you know.
08:03So it really was, really is a very, very special place.
08:07Which is interesting, because the Lowland is so, the Lowland region in Swiski is so massive.
08:12Like, Fife is trying to kind of do its own thing.
08:14And you guys are, so it would be interesting to see if it does break up into, like, smaller little pockets.
08:18Yeah, I think, you know, the Lowland region is, you know, it covers such a large area.
08:24And I think it needs more categorization, I guess.
08:27But also, yeah, looking, I mean, there are a couple of other distilleries here.
08:31We'd love to, like, perhaps start working with them, create a, you know, a Galloway distillery tour.
08:37Yeah, there's so much to explore here.
08:39And I think it really is the undiscovered place.
08:42So, yeah, much more work to do as well.
08:45Nice.
08:45And just quickly, on your new book, The Cocktail Diaries.
08:48Yes, somewhere up here.
08:49It's over there.
08:50It's over there.
08:52That's an exciting time as well.
08:53So you've obviously clearly been talking about cocktails quite a lot.
08:57Are you, you know, do you have a one for the vodka?
09:00Or, you know, when you spend a couple of nights, do you have a cocktail you recommend for your new vodka?
09:04Oh, I mean, so for the vodka, well, look, I'm a martini guy.
09:08And I've always been a gin, dry gin martini.
09:11Our vodka makes an amazing martini.
09:14But, yeah, I mean, it's, vodka kind of goes in a lot of cocktails.
09:18The Cocktail Diaries book came about because we were meeting a lot of producers.
09:23A lot of my travels around Scotland, but also abroad to Mexico.
09:28We did our tequila collaboration.
09:31And just meeting amazing producers, amazing bartenders, I kind of wanted just to, I don't know, I guess, share some of the amazing stories and experiences I've had whilst on this spirits adventure.
09:44So, yeah, it's out now.
09:46And it's been a really fun project to do.
09:48And we've got a bit at the back, which has some bartenders from the top 50 bars in the world.
09:53And they've gone away and created some cocktails with the Sassanac and come up with these amazing cocktails.
09:59So, yeah, a lot of fun to celebrate these, I don't know, geniuses, really.
10:03Great mixologists.
10:04Oh, yeah, it's become like almost like being a chef now.
10:06It really is.
10:08I mean, cocktail making is like being a Michelin star chef.
10:10In some places, you're going to such a large degree of process.
10:14So the cocktails in the book should be very accessible.
10:18I'm not a mixologist.
10:19I'm not a great bartender, but I am an enthusiast.
10:23And I'm trying to show that actually it's really easy.
10:26A couple of ingredients, three ingredient cocktails are simple.
10:29They're classic.
10:30They go deep back to the 1800s.
10:32So easy to make.
10:33And then they get more complex as you go through the book.
10:36I meant to ask you this last time, and you're probably stuck to getting asked this.
10:39But when we last spoke about your gin and you like a martini, shaken or stirred?
10:43Oh, come on now.
10:44It's got to be stirred.
10:45But actually, you know, it depends on the occasion.
10:47I think that's always like, you know, what's your favorite drink or how do you like things?
10:50But yeah, I mean, I would say the vodka, if you want something refreshing, you know,
10:54you shake it and, you know, you get a lot more ice shards in there.
10:58You're going to get a lot more dilution.
10:59So it's going to be more refreshing.
11:01Whereas like a stirred down cocktail is obviously going to be a lot more strong, a lot less diluted.
11:06Really depends on the situation, I guess.
11:10Well, yeah.
11:12Is anything else that you...
11:14I just say thank you so much for coming.
11:15Please come down to Galloway.
11:17It's an amazing place.
11:18Even when the weather's dreach like this, we've got this beautiful distillery, amazing courtyard.
11:24And come and try our spirits.
11:25See what we've got to offer here in Galloway.
11:27Cheers to that.
11:27Great to see you.
11:28Yeah, thanks very much.
11:29Thanks for coming.
11:29Thanks for coming.
11:30Thanks for coming.
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