Gin 'On The Rocks': Coast, Geology & Climate-Positive Gin

Spend a day on Scotland's most dramatic coast, and finish at the world's first climate-positive distillery — with a guide who can read 400 million years of history in the cliffs at your feet.

This full-day tour from Aberdeen takes you down the wild Mearns and Angus coast to five remarkable places. You'll start at a clifftop viewpoint where the Highlands meet the Lowlands, walk a working fishing harbour, hunt for fossils of some of the earliest plants ever to grow on dry land, explore a hidden bay with abandoned 19th-century lime kilns, and finish at the Arbikie Distillery — home of pioneering climate-positive gins distilled from peas grown on the family farm.

Your guide is Steve Adams — a working geologist with 45 years of experience and a knack for making rocks come alive. He'll show you what the cliffs are telling us: that 400 million years ago, this part of Scotland sat near the equator, ringed by volcanoes and crossed by rivers the size of the Mississippi. It's a story most people walk straight past. You won't.

Lunch is at a seaside restaurant in Montrose that locals love — a proper sit-down break with good food and sea views. After lunch we head inland to Arbikie, where you'll tour the working distillery and taste three gins crafted with sustainability built into every stage — from field to bottle.

This is a relaxed-pace tour, not a rush. Plenty of time to take photos, ask questions, and breathe in the sea air. Suitable for anyone with a reasonable level of fitness — no geology background needed. Most of our guests don't have one. They tell us afterwards they had no idea geology could be this interesting.

Small group, maximum 6 guests. Pickup from central Aberdeen.

Route

A Rubislaw Terrace, AberdeenB West St, Johnshaven, MontroseC Farmhouse, MontroseD MontroseE Boddin, MontroseF Arbikie Distillery, MontroseG Rubislaw Terrace, Aberdeen

08:30 — Pick-up at 1 Queens Terrace, Aberdeen
Meet your guide, Steve Adams.

09:15 — Garvock Hill
A spectacular viewpoint overlooking the boundary between the Scottish Highlands and Lowlands. We'll get our bearings, take in the views, and unpack a few basic geological ideas that'll make sense of everything you see for the rest of the day. Don't worry — no homework.
10:00 — JohnshavenA working fishing village with one of the prettiest harbours on the Angus coast. We'll walk the foreshore and read the story written in the rocks — ancient riverbeds, dried lake mud, and the traces of one of Scotland's earliest desert landscapes.

11:45 — Seagreens (St Cyrus)A chance to hunt for fossils of some of the earliest plants ever to grow on dry land, and to see traces of Scotland's historic lime industry up close.

12:45 — Lunch in Montrose
Relaxed lunch

14:00 — Boddin PointA hidden gem most visitors never find. Volcanic cliffs, an abandoned 19th-century lime industry, and views down a wild stretch of coast. Time for photos and stories about Scotland's industrial past meeting its volcanic deep history.

16:00 — Arbikie DistilleryThe grand finale. Tour the working distillery on the Stirling family farm, learn how Arbikie became the world's first producer of climate-positive gin (made from peas, of all things), and taste three of their craft gins. A genuine field-to-bottle story you won't hear anywhere else in Scotland.

18:00 — Return to Aberdeen
Tour ends.
 

Note: All timings (except pick-up times) are approximate and may change to suit weather, tides, and safety requirements.