lussa gin distillerY
Georgina kitching
The Jura Distillery is no longer the only distilling operation on the island. At the northern end of Jura’s lonely road, you will find the Lussa Gin Distillery, founded in 2015 and hidden unobtrusively within a farm. In fact, the actually distilling setup was built within an old horse stable, with the still sitting in one of the stalls, bottling equipment in a second, frozen botanicals stored in a third, and the instruments used for testing and quality control in a fourth. Lussa is owned and run by three women, Georgina Kitching, Claire Fletcher, and Alicia Macinnes, and it was Georgina who took the time to show me around, talk to me about their little gin company, and even put me to work for a short while as she disassembled and cleaned their still, affectionately named Hamish, after its last run.
When Georgina poured me a taste, the gin was delicious, delicate and floral, with a rich, creamy texture. She explained that they struggled to find the right balance of botanicals but are extremely happy with the outcome. Lussa gin incorporates 15 botanicals in its recipe, including lemon thyme, rose petals, lemon balm, bog myrtle, watermint leaves, sea lettuce, Scots pine needles, ground elder, and rose hips. The botanicals are all frozen prior to being macerated and distilled, a step that not only allows them to be stored and distilled year-round but also helps release their essential oils and flavors into the gin more readily. Lussa’s owners are doing their best to plant and cultivate, or wild-harvest, as many of the botanicals as possible on island.
