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JULY 2018
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Flight Time
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Travel
in and tonic might be a
more common pairing than
gin and loch water, but as I
glided through the inky, peaty
waters of Loch Spey under a
warm sun, I was sold on the marriage.
All around us, deep-brown mountains
topped with remnant snow rose majestically
behind dense forests of green, and a soulful
hush silenced the landscape, but for the gentle
whoosh of our paddles through the water.
Having learnt to stand-up paddleboard (SUP) in
the unpredictable Cornish seas, cruising along a
still loch was the height of relaxation.
HEART OF THE HIGHLANDS
We had arrived at Strathmashie Distillery, on
the edge of the Cairngorms National Park, the
day before, and were warmly welcomed by
the colourful Chris Molyneaux and Mignonne
Khazaka, founders of Daffy’s Gin. Also on hand
to receive us were three orphan lambs, a pair of
turkeys, two horses and a dog, not to mention a
handful of piglets lurking shyly in the shadows.
It felt only fitting that some three miles
away sat the Ardverikie Estate, perhaps better
known as Glenbogle House in the TV series
Monarch of the Glen
. Indeed, the area is no
stranger to the spotlight. Queen Victoria had
also been seduced by the locality’s beauty,
visiting Strathmashie itself in 1847. Although a
19th-century hunting lodge now stands in place
of the 17th-century almshouse Queen Victoria
would have witnessed, the surrounding scenery
appears unchanged.
On arrival, Chris gently encouraged two
of the lambs out of the hallway, and we sat
by a roaring fire in the grand drawing room,
supping a welcome Daffy’s G&T. The mournful
sound of a piper arriving completed the picture,
the bagpipes’ reedy, high notes deeply evocative
Belgian angelica root and Indonesian cassia
bark, and is born of the couple’s desire to
create the world’s finest London Dry Gin (a
classification defined chiefly by having its
flavours added before distillation). They have
done a pretty good job, but while Daffy’s uses
ingredients sourced from across the world,
there are also a host of botanicals on the
doorstep at Strathmashie.
A RURAL IDYLL
It is how, the next day, we came to be paddling
across a loch in the Scottish sunshine, wicker
baskets strapped to the front of our boards,
combining paddleboard tuition (from the
excellent Barry, fromWilderness SUP) with
foraging for botanicals, before heading back to
Daffy’s distillery to make our own creation…
A cockerel’s cry woke me on Saturday
morning, before the sound of the chattering
turkeys rose up from the courtyard
below, followed by the trio of tiny lambs
noisily appealing to be fed. It was a
rousing cacophony as the sunshine threw
Strathmashie’s whitewashed walls into sharp
relief against the woodland.
After a tasty breakfast buffet, we headed
into the grounds to cuddle the lambs and lend
a hand pumping up the boards. We were using
Red Paddle Co’s inflatable stand-up boards,
arguably the Rolls-Royce of the sector. Apart
G
“All around us, deep-
brown mountains topped
with remnant snow rose
majestically behind
dense forests of green”
IT’S AN UNLIKELY COMBINATION: GIN AND STAND-UP
PADDLEBOARDING, BUT NICOLA SMITH FOUND THEM
THE PERFECT PARTNERS FOR A BREAK
G I N ,
F L I N G
&
PA D D L E
of the landscape surrounding us. It was the
perfect start to a Highland fling – or at least,
paddleboarding and making gin.
Daffy’s Gin was launched by Chris and
Mignonne nearly five years ago, winning a
clutch of medals within six months of hitting
the market. Its recipe draws on botanicals
ranging from Lebanese mint – grown by
Mignonne’s father in the Beqaa Valley – to