Summerhall Distillery

About the distillery

Summerhall Distillery is located in the heart of Edinburgh and was built from a former and neglected animal hospital at the Royal Dick Vet School. It is a small, self-built distillery that today houses Pickering's Gin and The Broody Hen Scotch Whisky. The site’s special history lies in the fact that two friends with no traditional distilling background took an abandoned complex and turned it into a working city distillery.

History

Summerhall Distillery was founded in 2013 by Matt and Marcus. Matt came from a background as a mechanical engineer, while Marcus was an enthusiastic gin lover with a desire to experiment, and together they threw themselves into the project as The Botanical Engineers. The distillery started in a former and neglected animal hospital at the Royal Dick Vet School, where 24 dog- and cat enclosures first had to be removed. Eight of the original kennels were preserved and kept in the cold room under the containers. The building was taken apart and rebuilt again, and the team built the distillery’s headquarters from scratch in just six months. Along the way, they took care of everything themselves, from plumbing and plasterwork to tiling. The copper stills used today were imported from Portugal, and the first label machine was assembled from simple materials. In 2014, the breakthrough for Pickering's Gin came with the Navy Strength edition, which was tied to The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. Since then, the viral success of Gin Baubles followed, and in 2017 they sold out in 30,000 copies in 82 seconds. Today, the distillery produces both gin and whisky and describes itself as a place that grew from an idea at the kitchen table into a production of 2,500 liters of spirit per week.

Raw materials and production

The production is built around craftsmanship and small-scale work. Botanicals are weighed precisely by hand in the distillery’s botanical room, where the development and testing of flavor notes begins. The spirit itself is distilled in small copper pot stills, which were chosen to support flavor and purity. After distillation, the spirit is diluted with triple-filtered Scottish spring water. Bottling is also part of the handwork: the distillery has a special bottling setup that Matt himself constructed, so they can bottle almost anything, and among other things, 5cl mini-bottles are filled using manual solutions. Labeling and packaging are also carried out as a practical, local task in Edinburgh, and several parts of the process have been built together with help from neighbors.

Maturation and cask types

The whisky side on site focuses on the finished releases, but the product pages point to two clearly different expressions. The Broody Hen 10 Year-Old Single Malt highlights vanilla, toffee and smoke, while The Broody Hen Blended Scotch Whisky leans toward honey, caramel and spice. No specific casks or special maturation programs are mentioned, so the picture is primarily of a range where mature, sweet and lightly smoky tones are central.

Whiskies

The whisky range consists of two releases under the The Broody Hen name: a 10-year-old single malt and a blended Scotch whisky. The 10-year-old single malt is the more classically matured of the two, while the blended version offers a softer and more spiced expression. Both are sold as part of the distillery’s own webshop and sit side by side as the two whisky products that currently define the house’s whisky profile. This means the whisky program is small, but clearly defined, with a focus on two different styles rather than a broad spectrum of vintages and special bottlings.

Whisky style and flavor profile

Across the whiskies and the closely related liqueur, a profile emerges with vanilla, toffee and smoke in the single malt, as well as honey, caramel and spice in the blended Scotch. In addition, there is a more aromatic layer from the distillery’s liqueur, where pink grape and lemongrass come together with spicier botanicals and cardamom. This gives a house with both sweetness, spice and a hint of smoke as recurring directions.

Visit the distillery

Summerhall Distillery is open to the public, and the distillery keeps open for guided tours and experiences in the heart of Edinburgh. Tours and other experiences run Wednesday to Sunday, and throughout the week there are also gin tastings, cocktail masterclasses and food pairings in collaboration with local producers. Visits and experiences are booked online, and the distillery has both a shop and a working room where guests can get close to the production.

The stated opening hours are: Distillery tours and experiences run Wednesday–Sunday. Cocktail masterclasses and food pairings are also offered throughout the week.
See times and book a visit.

Philosophy and craftsmanship

The place is built on two friends’ desire to create something themselves, without a traditional distilling background. The philosophy is practical and craftsmanship-focused: botanicals are weighed by hand, copper pot stills are used for flavor and purity, and the entire facility was built with their own hands. At the same time, local rootedness is evident in the solutions and collaborations that have been built into production in Edinburgh.

Awards and recognition

• Award-winning (2014, Over 50 awards)

Latest news

Pickering's Gin infused chocolate bar – 2026-07-07

Summerhall Distillery launched a collaboration with Quirky Chocolate, an independent Edinburgh chocolatier, on a handcrafted chocolate bar inspired by Pickering's Gins botanicals.

Homemade Rhubarb Pickering's Gin – 2026-06-23

The distillery shared a recipe for homemade rhubarb gin with Pickering's Gin and described a simple way to make a fruity, seasonal infusion.

Sip Local with Pickering's Gin – 2026-04-22

In the spring, the distillery put the spotlight on local Edinburgh collaborations and cocktail servings with Pickering's Gin, including in collaboration with Voodoo Rooms.