Garden Shed Gin Review

The bottle for this Garden Shed Gin review was purchased by From the Gin Shelf
Garden Shed Gin was launched in late-2017. Founded by two couples – Maxine and Ryan Grant, and Kirsten and Ruaridh Jackson – the friends came up with the concept after Ryan visited Eden Mill distillery.
A professional rugby player, Ryan was the original driving force behind the idea. He was coming towards the end of his career and decided he’d like to try and make a gin. Together with his Glasgow Warriors team-mate, Ruaridh, and their wives, The Garden Shed Gin Company was born.
As the name suggests Garden Shed Gin takes inspiration from nature. They bought a half litre still and started experimenting with botanicals they found in their garden. With Eden Mill being official partners of Glasgow Warriors, the Garden Shed Gin Company were able to turn the the St. Andrews distillery to produce their perfected recipe.
Perhaps they didn’t expect their modestly self-styled “delusions of grandeur”, to have come so far in such a short space of time, but Garden Shed Gin is really making strides. Branching out (sorry…) from their West End garden, they have an array of stockists in the local area, and their presence continues to blossom (I’ll stop now) with an increasing number of on-trade stockists. And their finest hour to date was winning silver in the prestigious World Spirits Competition in San Francisco.
It’s been a lot of hard work up till now (read a typical day for Maxine and you’ll get the idea). Until a few months ago they hand-wrote and applied every label, and wrapped every inch of twine intricately around the neck of their beautiful bottle. Scale just wasn’t on their minds at the beginning and they’ve posted some jovial posts on social media of them in action for their growing following to see the dedication!
Keen to build on their growth, to coincide with their first anniversary, The Garden Shed Gin Company have also released an exciting expression, aging their gin in côte-rôtie for a limited edition product.
Signature botanicals
juniper, lavender, grains of paradise, blackberries, dandelion root

Garden Shed GIN RECOMMENDED SERVE
- Add plenty of ice to a wide-rimmed glass
- Pour 25ml of Garden Shed Gin
- Top up with 75ml of premium classic tonic water (e.g. Fever Tree or Schweppes 1783)
- Garnish with a sprig of rosemary and fresh blackberries


For every crate of Garden Shed Gin sold, the company plant one tree through Trees4Scotland, and match the cost of this to donate to the Bumblebee Conservation Trust.
The team were therefore keen to have an environmental focus for their gin, not just because it fits in with their brand. As a result, for every case of Garden Shed Gin sold, a tree is planted through Trees4Scotland. The cost of this is then matched and donated to the Bumblebee Conservation Trust. To date they’ve planted around 500 trees and bought enough seeds cover 28 rugby pitches on wild flowers.


At a glance
- Style: London Dry
- Distilled at: Strathearn Distillery
- ABV: 45%
- Where to buy: Direct from The Garden Shed Drinks Company, The Gin Cooperative, Craft56
- Price: around £40 (varies between stockists)
- Key botanicals: juniper, lavender, grains of paradise, blackberries, dandelion root
- Recommended garnish: blackberries and a sprig of rosemary
- Key flavours: floral and fruity