Lanarkshire gin producer Yva steals top awards from under global brands' noses

An inspirational Lanarkshire craft gin producer is toasting her success after she claimed the crown in two hotly-contested categories of the global gin industry Oscars.

Discerning drinkers are raising a glass to wedding and funeral celebrant Yva McKerlich, whose first gin, the Jaunty Camper, was named a winner in the Traditional Gin (42 per cent and under) category of the prestigious Gin Guide Awards 2024.

She also clinched a win in the Navy Strength (57 per cent) category for her Feisty Biker gin.

As the popularity and standard of gins from emerging gin markets reach new heights, The Gin Guide 2024 showcases the quality and international diversity of award-winners around the globe.

As well as a strong showing of winners from the UK, top accolades also went to producers from Uruguay, Chile, India, Singapore, Kenya, Tanzania, Croatia and Slovenia.

Hundreds of gins from more than 35 countries were entered in The Gin Guide Awards 2024, in categories based on the most popular styles of gin and their countries of production, as well as ‘design and branding’ and ‘classic cocktail’ categories.

The winners were selected through a rigorous blind-tasting process conducted by an esteemed panel of distinguished gin experts, including distillers, spirits buyers for retailers, authors and mixologists.

Each gin’s appearance, aroma, flavour, mouth-feel, finish and overall quality were assessed to determine the highest scoring gins, based purely on the spirit itself.

Now in its eighth year, The Gin Guide Awards is an independent celebration that serves to highlight the exceptional products, distilleries and people within the worldwide gin industry.

As a winner, Yva will be entitled to display her awards proudly on her Jaunty Camper and Feisty Biker bottles, packaging, exhibition stands and marketing materials.

Congratulating the winners, head judge Paul Jackson, founder and editor of The Gin Guide, commented: “The quality and diversity of gins has been absolutely remarkable.

"British gins and international gins alike showed the depth of skill in distillation and product development that continues to grow in the industry and that is undoubtedly becoming more prevalent in emerging gin markets.

“Gins from new and growing markets hugely impressed the industry-leading judging panels and showed how gin has truly crossed borders and is an exciting product in markets across the world that are traditionally more associated with other spirits.

“The Gin Guide Awards names just a small number of winners in each category to ensure genuine exclusivity and to protect the value of the awards and its proven ability to guide trade and consumer buying decisions.

“It is why being a winner in The Gin Guide Awards has become one of the most revered achievements in the industry, and a long list of previous winners have used their success to accelerate their businesses to the next level.

“I very much look forward to seeing this year’s winners enjoying the benefits of their achievements in the same way.”

The winning Jaunty Camper Gin recipe was developed in a copper pot-still by the sea in the spring of 2019 by Lanarkshire gran Yva while on a campervan road-trip.

The botanicals were chosen for flavour, but also because Yva wanted her tipple to taste of adventure, with a grounding in the Scottish seaside village where she was born, coupled with hints of the far-flung destinations she has visited over the years.

The trio of gin essentials are there – juniper, coriander and angelica – and she calls on the herb garden at her Strathaven home for different varieties of coriander, including a fragrant Vietnamese leaf.

Yva includes in her recipe robust, salty Scottish seawood as a nod to Kyle of Lochalsh, from where her family hails.

And for a touch of sweetness, The Jaunty Camper Gin also includes pistachio – a tribute to Yva’s beloved classic, pistachio-coloured VW campervan, Jasmine.

Her other winner, The Feisty Biker Gin is the Navy Strength addition to the brand and, distilled with fresh basil, it has the clean finish of The Jaunty Camper, but with savoury notes and a rounded smoothness that sets it apart from the norm.

Yva has added to her range the sweet gin Jammy Damsel, as well as Hoose Measure – a spirit akin to both gin and vodka and made with Clyde Valley-grown apples. Its label depicts her house on Strathaven’s Hamilton Road.

In addition, Yva has spent many months perfecting Racy GT – the world’s only gin made from green tomatoes. In keeping with her ‘petrol head’ theme, there’s a picture of a GT6 racing car pasted on to the bottle.

Speaking from her pitch at the recent Glampfest at Knaresborough, Yorkshire, Yva explained: “The Gin Guide contacted me soon after I applied [for the awards] and asked if I wanted to move the Jaunty Camper out of the Traditional Gins category – the most hotly contested – and put it into Contemporary Gins. I suppose they advised moving it to give a tiny business like mine a fighting chance.

“But I need it to be a traditional-tasting gin, so I thought I’d take my chances and leave it where it was. I wanted to make a gin for gin drinkers, not some faddy nonsense that people soon get fed up with. I did a special little dance around the living room when I got that news that it’s a winner.

“To beat Diageo’s global multi-million pound brand Tanqueray in that category is quite something for one person from a tiny South Lanarkshire village.

“Giants Diageo produce more bottles in one minute with one bottling plant than I do in a year. Some of the biggest gin brands in the world had their hats in the ring, so I was up against it, in an enormous sense.”

On the back of the two victories, Yva now has her sights firmly fixed on expansion.

“My little gin brand began with support from two more established local brands, but the time has come for a little bit of space of our own,” explained Yva, whose ginnery in Fower Coffee premises on Hamilton Road, Strathaven, will begin trading on June 1.

“So, 2024 will see the establishment of a gin HQ for the Jaunty Camper brand. While it won’t be open to the public, the new behind-the-scenes space will allow the brand a little bit more elbow room and flexibility as the brand’s reach continues to grow.

“Fower have opened up the wider space behind their premises to provide opportunities to other local businesses, and I will use the coffee shop space for tasting sessions.

“A speciality local baker and a brewer will also be setting up in there, so we feel like a real community hub at Fower. We are a right chatty bunch and will support each other. It is lovely to have that small-scale, intimate support.”

Next on the horizon for Yva and Jasmine – the 1972 VW T2 campervan that’s the inspiration behind The Jaunty Camper – is the 18th edition of Volksfling – a friendly and social VW show, in the beautiful South Lanarkshire town of Biggar.

For more information about Yva’s brand, visit www.thejauntycamper.co.uk

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