Duncan and Kecia McDougall never expected their family business Tayport Distillery to be as successful as it is.
The idea began on a whim – fuelled by, Duncan tells me – a mid-life crisis back in 2016, when the couple bought a small still.
The still, which stands at around two feet tall and looks more like a coffee urn, allowed the couple to experiment with distilling alcohol at home.
Eight years on, the still remains in pride of place at their Fife distillery, a homage to where they started.
Now, the equipment they use to craft Tayport Distillery’s vodka, gin and most recently, spiced rum, are significantly bigger in size.
“You probably want to know, ‘how the hell did we get into this?’ laughs Duncan.
“We were going through a mid-life crisis.”
Duncan worked in oil and gas previously, and Kecia in nursing.
“We walked into what we thought was a coffee shop,” recalls Duncan, “and turned out to be a shop selling brewing kits.
“They had this piece of equipment in the window that caught my eye. And they told us we could make our own gin in it.
“So we bought it there and then.”
Just like that, Duncan and Kecia went for it.
And a taste for distilling alcohol at home quickly became a passion that led to them opening their own distillery in Tayport.
How do Tayport Distillery create 100 Chimes spiced rum?
In 2020, their son, Alasdair, came on board. He learned how to work with the ingredients and processes involved in distilling.
“I’m meant to be retired now,” jokes Duncan, “but my job now is chief taste tester.”
Tayport Distillery’s newest product, a spiced rum named 100 Chimes, sees them collaborating for the second time with iconic St Andrews pub The Criterion.
They sourced the base of the rum from Jamaica, and add their own flair in Fife.
It took the team around four months to settle on the rum’s flavour profile.
Alasdair worked on the blend to take the clear 94% rum base to the spiced product they bottle today.
“We wanted to keep the original flavour, but add some heat to it too,” he says.
The flavour is created with a combination of vanilla, cloves, sweet orange peel, cassia bark (Chinese cinnamon) and allspice berries.
It takes time to draw the flavour out of each of these botanicals – as long as two weeks for the vanilla – before they are removed from the liquid through a muslin bag.
Alasdair then proofs the rum down to 40%, and finally adds a “secret ingredient” to the mix.
It takes three weeks from start to finish.
This process, plus the bottling, wax sealing and labelling takes place at the Tayport Distillery, by the skilled hands of Alasdair and his parents.
Together, the trio can fill a whopping 400 bottles a day.
The Criterion collaboration was ‘no-brainer’ says St Andrews publican
Steve Latto runs The Criterion, which was established back in 1874.
He says: “It was a no-brainer to work with Tayport Distillery again.
“Our whole ethos is trying to use as many local suppliers for our food and drink.
“I think the passion for all things local is alive and kicking in the community, and in the tourists.”
The bell-shaped bottle, and the rum’s name, tell the story of the bells of Holy Trinity Church in on South Street which chime at 8pm each night.
This used to be done to signify the closing of the gates to ensure the safety of St Andrews and its residents.
“It’s a nod to St Andrews,” says Steve.
“A lot of people don’t know the story, so this is a way for us to tell it.”
The release of the spiced rum also coincides with the 150th anniversary of The Criterion in St Andrews.
Conversation