North StarDistillery

North Star Distillery was set up in 2015 by Matt Rowland, who works for the NHS alongside running the business, making Merywen the first gin distilled in North Wales in more than a century. Production takes place on a 30-litre copper still at premises registered at 2 Rhiw Road, Colwyn Bay, in batches of just 25 bottles at a time, distilled by Rowland alone. Botanicals include hand-picked gorse and heather foraged from hedgerows around the distillery, combined with juniper, the plant that gives Merywen its Welsh name, and local water drawn from the foothills of the Welsh mountains. The gin contains no citrus. It is bottled as a London Dry style and sold through independent bottle shops, delicatessens and online rather than from a distillery shop, since the site is not set up for casual visits.