Strathleven Distillers Company Ltd., Dumbarton, Vale of Leven (near Loch Lomand), West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, UK.

Ricky Christie grew up in the Whiskey business, his father George Christie was responsible for building the Speyside Distillery of which Ricky took over the running of, before it was sold. Ricky Christie has now gone on to co-found (with Donald Buchanan) and run (as Managing Director) Strathleven Distillery. Their first offering, Valt Vodka, was launched in 2006. The unique selling point was the base spirit being made with malted barley just like Whiskey.

It might not seem much of a step to use this Vodka as the base spirit to produce a Gin, but it was another 6 years before they did this. Gilt Gin Company Limited was incorporated in the fall of 2012 and their first distillation of Gilt Gin took place on St Andrews day (patron saint of Scotland), 28th November 2012, the same day they had 6 years earlier chosen to first distill their Valt Vodka. The first bottled Gilt Gin was finally available at the end of 2012.

Valt Vodka.

Gilt