The Scottish craft distiller Arbikie Highland Estate has been awarded Best UK Varietal Vodka and Best UK Traditional Gin by the prestigious World Drink Awards.

The Scottish craft distiller Arbikie Highland Estate has been awarded Best UK Varietal Vodka and Best UK Traditional Gin by the prestigious World Drink Awards.

The World Gin and Vodka Awards are part of the World Drink Awards programme ran by the influential trade magazine thedrinksreport.com. With thousands of entries from across the globe it is viewed as one of the industry’s premier drinks awards.

Arbikie Highland Estate is a two thousand acre farm based on the east coast of Scotland. Arbikie is a single estate distillery meaning that everything is grown, distilled, matured and bottled all on the one location. Arbikie launched Scotland’s first potato vodka in October 2014.

Slightly sweet, very creamy and exceptionally smooth, Arbikie Vodka is distilled to a very specific level for a unique taste.  It is created using clear Scottish water and a blend of three distinct and flavoursome potatoes, Maris Piper, King Edwards and Cultra.  This is not the first award for Arbikie Vodka having won ‘Best Vodka’ at the Paris Cocktail Awards and Double Gold at the China Wine & Spirits Awards in 2015.

Arbikie subsequently launched ‘Kirsty’s Gin’ in 2015 named after its Master Distiller Kirsty Black.  ‘Kirsty’s Gin’ is unique in that it’s Scotland’s first gin to be distilled from scratch without using grain neutral spirit (GNS, is a pre made alcohol that the majority of gins are made from). Arbikie has stayed true to their single estate ethos using botanicals local to the Angus region.

Iain Stirling, Commercial Director commented:
“It’s an honour to be awarded best UK vodka and gin. We are only in year two, so to be recognised by such a prestigious awards body is fantastic! All credit must go to Kirsty and Christian, our two distillers who constantly strive for perfection in everything they do.”