HRH Queen Elizabeth has ventured into gin-making once again by distilling a new drink, Ballochbuie, at her Balmoral retreat.
The £60-a-bottle brand is created from hand-picked botanicals gathered on the estate’s Caledonian Pine Forest, and is hoped to help with the £3 million a year upkeep of the castle and surrounding lands.
The private estate in Royal Deeside, Aberdeenshire, intends to profit on the spirit’s popularity as it reopens and looks to recoup costs following the long Covid shutdown.
Around half of Balmoral’s eye-watering £3m-a-year upkeep is said to come from tourism and other enterprises.
A spokesperson from the estate said:
“We are proud to announce the launch of our very own Premium Balmoral Gin, distilled with hand-picked botanicals from the estate’s Ballochbuie forest.
“We are now taking orders for our the first batch of Ballochbuie Gin, with orders processed and despatched as soon as our delivery arrives in June.
“This special pre order price includes express courier delivery service so order now to be one of the first to sample our deliciously refreshing Ballochbuie Gin.
“Please note that this product can only be purchased if you are aged 18 years of age or over and is only available for shipping within the UK.”
It is believed to be the most expensive of the Royal gins so far with several others launched in recent years.
Earlier this month, The Queen has also launched a £30-a-bottle sloe gin in her royal shops – a new addition to the growing collection of spirits bearing the royal crest. Dubbed Buckingham Palace Sloe Gin, it is sold by the Royal Collection.
The spirit, which presents a coronet on its front label, is made with handpicked whole sloe berries steeped in the Buckingham Palace gin.
A royal London dry gin made from botanicals in the Buckingham Palace garden also went on sale last year.
All profits from sales of that gin go to The Royal Collection Trust. Meanwhile, Prince Charles’s Highgrove has its own organic London dry garden botanical gin – selling at £39.95.
Head over to the Royal Collection Trust shop to purchase some of the gins.