The Gin Bothy is taking the successful artisanal brand back to where it all started as it relaunches The Jam Bothy, a range of jams and marmalades made by hand from traditional jam recipes, at the Royal Highland Show.

The new Jam Bothy selection is being brought to retail, 10 years after company founder and ‘accidental gin maker’ Kim Cameron (pictured above) began making the preserves in a bothy kitchen in Kirriemuir, which then led her to making her renowned Gin Bothy raspberry gin with the leftover fruit juice.

At the World Jampionships in 2010, held at Dundee’s Food & Flower Festival, Kim won a category for her jam recipe. Inspired by her success she went on to convert a bothy into a production kitchen in rural Angus called the ‘Jam Bothy` and began following the bountiful seasonal fruit calendar of the area. 

With the range of jams and marmalades sold in the shops and local markets, Kim was faced with an abundance of leftover fruit juice. Rather than see it go to waste Kim added the juice to gin and in 2015 the Jam Bothy became the Gin Bothy.

Gin Bothy has gone on to become one of Scotland’s best known premium gin and rum brands producing over 65,000 units each year sold across the UK and exported internationally.

The jam to gin story lives on, coming full circle as the traditional producer launches a completely new selection of 227g jars at the Royal Highland Show, the first event the brand attended when it launched 10 years ago.

Kim Cameron said: “Coming back to the brand’s heritage, working with even more local produce and suppliers feels like a really organic and natural move.  It has always been a focus to work with local businesses as much as possible and in Angus we are surrounded by the cream of the crop when it comes to finest fresh berries with farmers delivering to us within hours of picking.

We use traditional methods to make our gin; after our hand foraged berries have been soaked in our Gin Bothy gin we then hand batch the jam, bursting with berries, creating a zero waste life cycle across both products.”

This reimagined Jam Bothy range includes whisky, gin, and rum marmalades with flavours including raspberry & gin, rhubarb & ginger and strawberry & champagne jam and the reintroduction of the original, highly popular chilli jam.

Kim added: “We have spent many years developing our Gin Bothy range. Our jam took a back seat and was only available in our shop in Glamis but so many of our customers have expressed demand, hoping to stock the range that we decided to extend the Jam Bothy range to other shops, restaurant and cafes. As well as producing in small jars we also sell in catering tubs and own label is also available.

Angus truly is one of the most amazing places for seasonal fruit.  We follow the Scottish calendar with production of strawberry, raspberry, rhubarb, blueberry and sloes which we are very proud to be able to use as part of our brand.”

The visitor centre for the Bothy range is in the historic village of Glamis and is open Thursday to Sunday 11-5. The range is also available online and with local stockists.