A festival of gin is now underway in Scotland

A festival of gin is currently underway in Edinburgh – and it’s bigger and better than ever.

Nicholson’s Gin Fest has returned for its third year, which started on 16 July and this year is showcasing an extensive range of 40 rare, premium and limited-edition batch gins across the 77-strong estate.

Celebrating Nicholson’s long-standing historical connections with gin, the 2018 Gin Festival features a wide range of engaging and educational consumer events and activations including masterclasses, secret gin parties and social media giveaways.

Running until 2 September historic Nicholson’s pubs across the capital are inviting gin lovers to explore rare and unique gins from around the world, including 12 brand new small batch gins distilled especially for the Nicholson’s Gin Festival 2018.

Gins hailing from as far as Japan to South Africa make-up the mouth-watering summer menu, including a very special limited-edition Summer collaboration with Cornish distillery Tarquin’s Gin.

Created exclusively for the Nicholson’s Gin Fest, the Tarquin’s limited-edition is a dry Cornish gin, infused with strawberries and a touch of lemon verbena. With a shared ethos of championing small batch, craft distilling and working with the finest seasonal ingredients available, the aim of this pinky-hued gin was to bring a little slice of Cornish sunshine to every glass.

The Edinburgh pubs taking part this year are The Conan Doyle, 71-73 York Place,; The Mitre Bar, 131-133 High Street; Deacon Brodies Tavern, 435 Lawnmarket; Rose Street Brewery, 55-57 Rose Street; and Greyfriars Bobby’s Bar, 30-34 Candlemaker Row.

Amongst the other 40 gins featured in the Festival, there is a focus on Fruit Cups and World gins this year, bringing a new lease of life into the traditional summer serve while also exploring a range of gins from every continent including Roku gin from Japan, Dictator gin from Colombia and Inverroche Amber gin from South Africa.

Marketing manager Annette Middleton said: ‘The Nicholson’s brand has an affinity with gin that goes back as far as 1873 and our annual Gin Festival gives offers the ideal opportunity to celebrate that rich heritage, whilst looking to the future of what is now a booming category.

‘This year’s Festival is bigger and better than ever before, and we’ve relished working alongside Tarquin’s to create our collaboration strawberry and lemon verbena gin which we know our guests will love drinking this summer!’