Lindores Abbey
Multi award winning handcrafted botanical spirit
Aqua Vitae is made on site using spices, dried fruit and locally grown green herbs such as Douglas fir and sweet cicely. With citrus notes and full of sweet and spiced flavours, it is delicious as a mixed drink or a cocktail base.
The earliest Aqua Vitae was made at Lindores as long ago as 1494, and we’ve authentically recreated that recipe and reimagined it as an inquisitively versatile spirit. Today, our own spirit is distilled in pot stills and then infused with a blend of spices and herbs, including cleavers, and sweet cicely, which grow in our gardens, amidst the grounds of the ancient Abbey. It is entirely natural, with no added sugars.
Aqua Vitae is available in 70cl, 20cl (which can be personalised) and 5cl miniature bottles which will allow you to try our Lindores spirit before you purchase a bottle.
Multi
Award Winning
In 2020 we were given the Gold Medal in the SIP Awards for the Botanical Category and in 2019 we were delighted to receive a Silver Medal in the Fruit Spirit category at the International Wine and Spirit Competition – IWSC.
Aqua Vitae is a great composition of flavours, with the lemon verbena keeping the dried-fruit-like raisin and date aromas and the taste balanced and fresh – a nice blend of flavours and textures, with an exciting harmony of flavours and a delicious finish.
We were also awarded a 2 Star Outstanding Award at the Great Taste Awards 2019 by the Guild of Fine Food – the acknowledged benchmark for fine food and drink. It has been described as the ‘Oscars’ of the food world and the ‘epicurean equivalent of the Booker prize’. Quite simply the Great Taste logo is the sign you can trust when buying food and drink in your local, quality retailer.
If I could give this six stars then I would
“Amazing!!! Unlike anything I’ve tried before and I look at myself as a bit of a drinks buff.
I saw the bottle on the back bar in The Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh and it caught my eye as it looked so beautiful.
The bartender was very knowledgeable about the product and explained it was called Aqua Vitae meaning ‘water of life’ in Latin and was from a new whisky distillery in Fife called Lindores Abbey. He went on to tell me about the fascinating history surrounding both the Abbey and the spirit, I love a drink with a bit of heritage and a good story behind it, this was ticking all the right boxes for me and I hadn’t even tried it yet.
I asked for a dram and to my surprise I was asked if I’d like to have it with a mixer. The bartender explained it was a malt spirit with added botanicals and spices and could be enjoyed either like a whisky or a gin. This caught the interest of my wife, not normally a malt lover, so I had one on the rocks and she went with the recommendation with ginger ale and orange peel.
Both drinks were stunning and I could imagine enjoying both as a winter dram and a summer cocktail. It’s a bit more sweet and herbaceous than a whisky but more depth of character than a gin.
We are now onto our 3rd bottle purchase so thought it about time I left a review. Couldn’t recommend it enough, great in cocktails all year round. Great to see someone exploring something other than Gin. Top marks Lindores.”
