As the UK’s first "social distillery", funded by private investors and by public money from the Scottish government and the local enterprise agency, it is hoped that the Isle of Harris distillery will stop young people leaving the island for jobs elsewhere and spur business creation, particularly in tourism. By producing premium gin to help get the business off the ground, it is also part of a new economic trend seen elsewhere in Europe.

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"Mother's ruin", better known as gin, has undergone something of a renaissance in Europe and has been reinvented as a premium product over the last eight years. The so-called "gin-aissance" is not only winning over style-conscious younger drinkers but bringing jobs and increased tourism, particularly to remoter areas in, for instance, Finland, Portugal and Spain.