Here are our top five distilleries to pay a visit to while in Fife. Kingsbarns Distillery and Visitor Centre – Kingsbarns

Two centuries later they now produce five of their own single malts and offer three unique guided whisky tours.

Our Head Distiller, Scott, makes Darnley's Gin in our copper pot still in the London Dry style to produce a gin with uncompromising quality and flavour. The makers of the award-winning Kirkjuvagr Orkney have combined the distillery and shop with a new gin school where people can explore the history of this intriguing producer and its gins before making your own using a unique recipe from the 30 botanicals on offer. Read More Related Articles

From a resurrected Abbey, revived after 523 years to a dilapidated farmstead turned modern whisky hotspot, Fife has something for all dram lovers. Land belonging to the Wemyss family, the owners of Kingsbarns Distillery, was where John Haig chose to establish his first Haig Club facility. Whether you’re a local looking to get your whisky fix, or a tourist enjoying the area for the first time, a trip to any of these distilleries will go down a treat.

Each bottle of Darnley’s Gin begins with the highest quality British grown grain spirit and the finest botanical ingredients. We pride ourselves on making a gin that’s perfectly natural, which is why we make London Dry Gin. This means that no additional flavours or sugars are added after distillation, only purified water to reduce our gin to its bottling strength. Our carefully selected combination of botanicals are steeped in the base spirit, allowing the essential oils and flavours to be released before distillation. While the Highlands are often synonymous with good spirits the Kingdom of Fife also boasts some of Scotland’s finest distilleries. Founded by the Wilson brothers, the gin school was designed to give not only an insight into how this unique spirit is created but also show how the botanicals sourced on the island play a key part in their particular gin's make up. Surely the best part of learning about how gin is made is learning about where it comes from and what inspired the distillers to make it in the first place - and on the Isle of Skye, which surely one of the most beautiful parts of the country, it's readily apparent.

The growth of the brand has been attributed to its ‘innovative and purpose driven’ brand developments. The family-run brand says it is committed to provenance and has made continued efforts to become more sustainable in all areas, which has driven brand loyalty and attracted new markets, buyers, and consumers to the brand.

Fife-based gin brand Darnley’s has reported 202% year-on-year growth for the financial year ending March 2022. Darnley’s Gin is distilled in the London Dry style in Fife, Scotland, using only natural botanicals Darnley’s have just released the first in the Cottage Series range of limited-edition gins inspired by the stunning Fife countryside. It seeks to reflect the local landscape’s diverse natural environment alongside the brand’s heritage across its portfolio of gins, which includes three expressions in its Cottage Series: Very Berry, Smoke & Zest and Wild Citrus, alongside its Navy Strength Spiced Gin expression and an Original Gin. The portfolio ranges from 40% ABV to 57.1% ABV. All are offered in 500ml bottes or in 700ml pouches. Our immersive gin experiences, our collaboration projects and our ambitious efforts to be more sustainable, using more and more local botanicals has seen a huge increase in people enjoying our gins,” Stewart concluded.

Self-proclaimed gin-connoisseurs will be able to blend their very own gin from a range of single botanical distillates, choosing flavours and balance botanicals to create their own unique gin recipe. Darnley’s Gin launched in 2010 and was made in London until July 2017 when they brought the gin production home to the new Darnley’s Distillery in Kingsbarns in the East Neuk of Fife. Director of UK and European sales Ben Stewart commented: “Darnley’s Gin is part of the Wemyss Family Spirits portfolio and this growth, along with the brand initiatives, really supports the business’s longer term goals of 20% revenue growth year-on-year, to increase product sampling, and be more sustainable in all aspects of the business. Join us in our first ever gin experience outside of our home in the East Neuk of Fife, right in the heart of Edinburgh.

The Scottish brand welcomed 1,925 visitors to its distillery in the last year, hosting 300 Gin School experiences. It also hosted a Gin Experience pop-up on Edinburgh’s Castle Street in 2021, offering an immersive gin blending workshop as well as acting as a ‘hub’ for gin education. The brand delivered 420 blending experiences and welcomed over 3,500 visitors during its three-month showcase. Consumers are indeed seeking new drinking experiences and we have seen this as an opportunity to keep them engaged with our premium gins and get them involved with some of the fantastic things we are doing here.” It’s also very exciting for us to be opening the doors of our ‘cottage distillery’ to share some of the behind the scenes magic that goes into making Darnley’s Gin with guests, especially as the number of visitors seeking Scottish food and drink experiences continues to rise.”