Distillery featured in Festive initiative to boost small businesses

A distillery on the outskirts of Edinburgh is behind the fourth day of an online advent calendar celebrating Scotland’s independent retailers.

From gift shops and beauty products to bakeries and chocolatiers, the Christmas countdown celebrates retailers that makes Scotland’s independent businesses so special.

Launched as part of its on-going support for small businesses and to encourage people to shop locally this Christmas, businesses will be featured on the bank’s Business Hub and social media channels @RBSBusiness.

The Old Curiosity Distillery uses over 600 naturally grown ingredients for its specialist gin and owner Hamish Martin said 2020 had been a challenging year.

He added: “Our actual own brand sales halved but this has driven us to work on other opportunities including a lot more gin creations for other companies such as Harrods, Fortnum and Mason’s and M&S.

“We diversified our business to make our own herbal hand sanitisers, natural herb soaps and even bottled our own honey.

“Supporting independent businesses and one another in these times is hugely important. We work with two charities to ensure we get people who need support working in the garden and connecting with nature.”