Loch Ness Spirits came home with the gold medal at the Absinthiades Festival in Pontarlier for its Absinthe Blanche. The Absinthe is distilled using homegrown botanicals, including wormwood, on the banks of Loch Ness by Highland GP Lorien Cameron-Ross husband Kevin, a former detective.
In another first, Lorien is also the first-ever female distiller to win a medal in the history of the competition.
Lorien first visited Pontarlier in August 2017 with two female friends, one a distiller and the other a fluent French speaker, as part of her research on absinthe, and it was then that she recognised a gap in the market for one made in Scotland.
Loch Ness Absinthe was up against 25 entries in the competition, split into Verte and Blanche categories. Three panels of judge’s blind tasted each one (professional jury, public jury, VIP jury) over a three-day period.