The brand name was first attached to a project to construct a whisky distillery in Shetland, and evolved into a gin brand whilst work on constructing the distillery was stalled.[1] The proposed distillery was never built, and the Blackwoods brand name was sold on to Blavod Spirits (now Distil PLC), who further developed it as a standalone gin.[2]
Production of the gin moved to Ardgowan in 2024, with a brand home for the gin scheduled to open on the Ardgowan Estate in 2026.
History
The company begin as part of a project to build a proposed malt whisky distillery on Shetland.[3] The company founder, Caroline Whitfield, started the company after moving to Shetland in 2002. Whitfield had previously worked for Diageo and Unilever. The first iteration of the company was known as 'Blackwood Distillers', named after Whitfield's husband.[4][5]
Initially, the whisky distillery was proposed for a location at Catfirth, near South Nesting.[2] However, in April 2006, Blackwood announced alternative plans to convert part of the disused RAF Saxa Vord base on Unst to distillery usage.[4] The initial funding was raised from 135 private investors.[5] The construction on Unst would never be completed, and the site would later become Saxa Vord distillery. The gins from this time period were contract distilled in London.[6][7]
In May 2008, the company went into administration, but a new company, Catfirth Ltd, was established to continue the whisky business and took over the remaining stocks of whisky.[8] The stocks of the vodka and gin brands were sold to a company called Blavod Extreme Spirits (who would become Distil PLC in 2014), and the original company was forced into liquidation.[9][10] In 2013, word of further funding was suggested, with the company promising that a distillery would open soon after but by 2015 no further work had been done on the site.[11][1]
Despite this, the brand continued to perform well, and by 2015 it was the 9th most valuable Scottish gin by sales value.[12]
Production of Blackwoods moved to Ardgowan distillery in 2025. The first product to be made at Ardgowan was a limited edition release called 'The First Drop'.[13] Later that year, Distil PLC announced a share placing in order to raise £755,000 which would be used to construct a brand home for Blackwoods at Ardgowan.[14]
Products
The company released its first Blackwoods products (then spelled 'Blackwood's') in May 2003: a gin, a vodka, and a cream liqueur named for Tom Jago, one of the team who created Baileys Irish Cream.[3]
An early release, Blackwoods Vintage Gin, was notable for its claim to being the first gin to be released with a vintage attached. The expression was released in limited quantities each year, and the company claimed that the changes in vegetation in Shetland led to annual variations in taste. Blackwoods 60, another early product, was released at 60% abv.[7]
Just prior to the move to Ardgowan distillery, the Blackwoods range included a version of the Vintage Gin, a Navy Strength gin at 60% abv (succeeding Blackwoods 60), and a vodka distilled using gin botanicals. The first release from the still at Ardgowan was a limited release called "The First Drop".
References
12Morton, Tom (15 September 2015). "Shetland's whisky saga". Scotch Whisky Magazine. Retrieved 21 May 2016.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
