Meet the Team: Stephen & Aly Kemp
What made you decide to start your own gin company?
We’d been travelling to various events and weddings quite a lot in 2015, and new and interesting craft gins were appearing all around the country. At that time, a strongly branded gin was notably absent in Orkney, so we set about developing a new gin brand that was unmistakably Orcadian.
What has been your biggest highlight in business since starting your company?
Opening the Orkney Distillery was a massive achievement for us, as we’d wanted from the outset to create a flagship home for Kirkjuvagr, and it took a lot of work in a short time to get there within two years of launching our first gin!
Opening our more recent ‘garden bar’ called Oot the Back was also thrilling last year, as we emerged from Lockdown. The Team all put in such an effort to create a truly unique and amazing offering, and we’re really proud of the result!
What is your favourite gin from the Kirkjuvagr range?
Aly: Beyla. For me, this is probably the one that I influenced the most, and I absolutely love the soft pink colour tone!
Stephen: I can’t say I have a specific favourite, as I like them all, and I find that tastes can change depending on the weather, your surroundings, mood, etc etc! Right now though, I’m really enjoying our Northwest Passage Expedition Gin. It’s been great to have an opportunity to support the Expedition, and our local friend Davie Flett (who’s one of the rowers) and I went to Birsay and harvested sugar kelp that we used as a botanical, so tasting the result really is very satisfying.
