At the heart of BD is a passion for capturing the spirit of its remote natural surroundings in truly distinctive & memorable flavours The Romance of Distilling in the Scottish Highlands
Badachro Distillery was much dreamed and spoken of for years and years before it became a reality. In fact… once upon a time, in a remote hamlet on the north west coast of the Scottish Highlands, in the real Weste
r Ross, Gordon & Vanessa met in the Badachro Inn and married less than twelve weeks later. Madness, they all said, but over twenty years later, they live in the house on the hill, overlooking Badachro bay, with their kids, dogs, cat and two horses, entertaining b&b guests and concocting licit spirits with the greatest deliciousness being Badachro Gin. Vanessa had trained in hospitality in a very up-market hotel in Munich and Gordon had worked for an advertising agency and life together, at first in the Middle east, was exciting and successful. When a move from Jeddah, to Dubai and then to London was followed by babies, a lust to leave the rat-race grew. Oh to have a wee business up in the Highlands and live a life of freedom & simplicity. So, following a few years in the Scottish capital Edinburgh, escape to Badachro became a reality. Moving to Badachro
Life in a caravan whilst building their house, with a six year old, a toddler, a grumpy cat and a puppy was as mad as it sounds. The house, Aird Hill, was complete and ‘normal’ family life began. No offices to drive to, no corporate bosses to pander to, no traffic jams. Just peaceful, quiet life, gazing over pristine mountains, clear waters and that extraordinarily clear, star-studded night sky. A returning topic of conversation was brewing beer or distilling spirits. Brewing beer seemed like the logical choice given the law, Vanessa’s Bavarian heritage and a ready market. But distilling is, after all, a Highland tradition and the easiest route was never going to be their choice. So, Gordon devoured more (up to date) books about distilling whilst Vanessa researched like a crazy thing on the internet while Gordon completed formal training in distilling. A dream comes together
Vanessa’s previous work in horticulture led her to study botanicals and Gordon got some work experience in a Perthshire distillery. And then, in June 2017, after (very) much effort navigating the bureaucracy, Badachro Distillery was born. All so ‘poetic’ given that they first met, drinking gin (let’s say), in the wonderful pub which they look out over on the other side of Badachro bay. So, happily, and certainly for ever, but not yet after, Badachro Distillery, in all it’s artisan style minutia, feeds the family, the animals and Gordon & Vanessa’s dream of the future.
