Arbikie, the new distillery behind Scotland's first premium potato-based vodka is preparing to launch its first gin product, after establishing the brand's foothold in some of Britain's most well-heeled grocery outlets.
Produced by brothers Iain, John and David Stirling, all veterans of the brand development industry, with a speciality in premium spirits, Arbikie vodka is distilled on the farm out of the three potato varieties farmed by the family for four generations.
The Stirling brothers are currently working with mixologists as they put the finishing touches to their Arbikie gin, also made with farm-grown botanicals. As with the vodka, the gin, which will be launched later in the spring, will be distilled in whisky-style copper stills, using Arbikie's own "all-important" water source.
Distributed by bottlers and exporters Gordon & MacPhail, and already stocked by Harrods Food Hall, as well as over 100 outlets throughout Scotland and the UK, including Valvona and Crolla, and Tom Kitchin restaurants , the vodka brand is set to hit the shelves of two other major luxury grocery outlets. Arbikie is also in initial negotiations with buyers for national supermarket chains.
Iain Stirling said that the idea for the vodka, which retails at £42 a bottle "came to us from our experience of working in the marketing and branding of drinks."
The transformation of a humble commodity like the Scottish potato into a luxury product has already attracted support from organisations such as Scotland Food and Drink, which promote innovative ways to sell Scottish food and drink produce abroad, also from Scotland's farming fraternity.
"The three of us owned Stirling Associates, a marketing business in which drinks were our focus, and we had specialised experience of creating ranges of private label products for high net worth clients. Having done this work for other people, we thought it made sense to work on a product where we owned the raw material as well as having control over the brand development."
Although the vodka market is overwhelmingly dominated by grain vodkas, many of the acknowledged best Russian and Polish vodkas in the world are potato-based. According to Iain Stirling: "It's a more complex and expensive way to make vodka, the general difference is that grain will give you an afterburn, while potato is incredibly smooth. But there's a definite education to be done for people to get used to sipping it neat, as with Scotch."
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