Caithness in a Glass: North Point's Crosskirk Bay Gin
On Scotland's far northern coast, where the land runs out and the North Sea takes over, North Point Distillery has quietly built one of the country's most compelling gin stories — and Crosskirk Bay is where it starts.
Named for the wind-scoured bay a short walk from the distillery at Forss, near Thurso, this is a London Dry Gin that wears its geography proudly. Seventeen botanicals go into the still, and several of them you won't find in a typical gin cabinet: Icelandic moss, sea buckthorn, rowan berries and Scots pine sit alongside the expected juniper, giving Crosskirk Bay a character that's unmistakably coastal — crisp and bracing, with none of the soft, orchard-fruit sweetness so many gins lean on.
On the nose, it opens with that classic juniper snap and a wash of citrus zest. The palate turns more complex: anise and lemon balm, a flicker of orange oil, and a peppery warmth from pink peppercorn that keeps things lively right through to a long, clean, distinctly maritime finish. It's a gin that rewards a good tonic and not much else — ice, a wedge of something citrus, and plenty of fizz to let those seventeen botanicals do their work.
At 45.1% ABV, this is a gin built for people who want their G&T to have some backbone, and it's picked up international competition recognition to back that up. It's an easy bottle to recommend as a gift, too — the story of a small Caithness distillery turning out gin (and rum) a stone's throw from the Pentland Firth is the kind of thing that makes a present feel considered rather than grabbed off a shelf at the last minute.
We've only a handful of bottles in at the moment, so if the idea of a proper, wild, north-coast gin appeals, it's worth not leaving this one too long.
