Green appeal for North Uist Distillery new blue bottle

Abigail Taylor

Award-winning gin-producers Kate Macdonald and Jonny Ingledew have launched a new premium bottle for their flagship Downpour Gin as part of exciting growth plans for 2022. 

The new bottle features a bold and eye-catching design, with several nods to the company’s Hebridean heritage. ‘Island Life Distilled’, the brand’s strapline, is embossed on the neck of each bottle, with the body featuring the Downpour logo surrounded by the brand’s signature rain pattern, which wraps around the new bottle. 

With a focus on increasing environmental consciousness, Kate and Jonny enlisted high-quality Italian glassmakers Vetroelite to produce the new bottle, designed by Glasgow based Jamhot Design. 

The new bottle uses 38% less glass than the original Downpour design, has a natural cork stopper with a wooden top and uses biodegradable inks, ensuring the whole thing can be recycled alongside clear household glass making it as environmentally friendly as possible. 

Kate said: “We are delighted to launch a new bottle for our original Downpour Gin during what is an exciting time for North Uist Distillery. We wanted to create a new bespoke bottle which would enhance our brand while representing our Hebridean heritage and the Downpour Gin inside. Each bottle is distilled, bottled and labelled on the island to enable the business to have a long-term benefit for the community. We currently employ ten people and will look to continue to add to our team in the future.” 

North Uist Distillery has been plastic free since inception, using only cardboard in their postal packaging and the distillery is also aiming to become B Corp certified.

B Corp Certification is a designation that evidences a business is meeting high standards of verified performance, accountability, and transparency on factors from employee benefits and charitable giving to supply chain practices and input materials.

As well as the bottle’s design for the environment, the neck has also been crafted to be easily used at the new refill station at North Uist Distillery’s home at Nunton Steadings and the distillery is working towards launching a postal refill system later this year for off-island customers.

Kate added: “Our original bottle had a very heavy base which required a lot of glass. As part of the redesign, we have made sure that the new bottle is more lightweight and uses less glass than our original bottle. We have also designed it to fit into the refill station at Nunton Steadings, where anyone can come along and get their bottle refilled. This is an important development which will help us go some way to achieving one of our major goals which is to become more sustainable as a business. We believe we now have a bottle which more people will want to keep and one that will also encourage refills at our Nunton Steadings shop.” 

North Uist Distillery has proven to be a hit not just locally, but with tourists alike. The opening of the Downpour Shop in May 2021 attracted over 10,000 visitors over its first summer of business. The small team are keen to increase that figure this summer, and will welcome the return of tasting sessions and tours which were also launched in August 2021.

Selling out in the first week of the launch, the new bottle has been received as a success.

New bottles will be launched for the remaining flavours of Downpour, creating a collectable quartet. Customers can look forward to a new ‘Island Life Bar’, for visitors to enjoy a Downpour gin and tonic, in the courtyard of the steadings, if the Uist weather allows it.