Meet the Inverroche Team | Passionate Craft Distillers

About Us

Birth Of Our Brand

As the pioneers of South African craft gin, Inverroche Distillery was founded by Lorna Scott and her family. Growing from strength to strength in the local community of Still Bay in the Western Cape of Southern Africa.

In just 6 years, the distillery has grown from a small home industry to a flourishing and pioneering craft distillery. A distillery that is invested in its community and producing world class gins and spirits.

Origin

Birth Of Our Brand

Inverroche takes its name from the combination of two words that pay homage to the Scott ancestry, referencing both their Celtic and Gaelic backgrounds. The Scottish word “Inver” meaning ‘a confluence of water’ and the French word “Roche” meaning ‘rock or stone’ are the very elements that have come together in Still Bay to create the conditions necessary to make these world class, oneof-a-kind craft gins. Today the brand has three distinct gins, crafted using only a handful of the more than 9,000 Fynbos botanicals. We can proudly say that we are selling these craft gins in up to 15 countries globally.

LORNA SCOTT

Founder and CEO

Our founder and CEO, Lorna Scott, discovered her inner gin making through a curious path. Following her career path as the Deputy Mayor of the Hessequa Local Municipality in the Western Cape – the small town where she grew up. During this journey she was involved in sustainable development which inspired her to develop the region as a tourist destination and create employment amongst the local community. Before she knew it, she was experimenting by infusing the abundant fynbos into her small batch of gins which led to the success of the Inverroche global brand. A curious and fiercely determined personality who combines her passion for sustainability and distilling with in-depth knowledge of the local biome and inimitable love for this part of the world, Lorna is the driving force behind Inverroche, seeking to create a brand with historical significance that aims to reconnect people to each other and their natural environment.

LORNA SCOTT

Founder and CEO

Our founder and CEO, Lorna Scott, discovered her inner gin making through a curious path. Following her career path as the Deputy Mayor of the Hessequa Local Municipality in the Western Cape – the small town where she grew up. During this journey she was involved in sustainable development which inspired her to develop the region as a tourist destination and create employment amongst the local community. Before she knew it, she was experimenting by infusing the abundant fynbos into her small batch of gins which led to the success of the Inverroche global brand. A curious and fiercely determined personality who combines her passion for sustainability and distilling with in-depth knowledge of the local biome and inimitable love for this part of the world, Lorna is the driving force behind Inverroche, seeking to create a brand with historical significance that aims to reconnect people to each other and their natural environment.

“I was lucky,” Lorna says, “In that I had two very knowledgeable people to help guide me through the thousands of botanicals available here; there are more than 9,000 species of plant in our natural habitat – plants found in great numbers on our doorstep and nowhere else on the planet. Fortunately, the late Dr. Tol Pienaar and his wife Annette, the two local botanists who supported me helped narrowed down the list of botanicals to 300 for me to try.

Without them, literally we’d still be searching.”

THE Family

Inverroche is first and foremost a family business. And, while it’s wholeheartedly true that Inverroche’s success is the result of a total team effort, it would be incorrect not to acknowledge that the Scott family have steered Inverroche to the place we find ourselves today.

Of course, without Lorna none of this would exist. A fiercely determined personality who combines passion for distilling with in-depth knowledge of the local biome and an inimitable love for this part of the world; Lorna is quite literally the driving force behind Inverroche.

Michael Scott is a trusted support to Lorna and the Inverroche team, with exceptional understanding of flavour and process due to his background in the culinary arts and holding a Micheline Star, thus providing and enviable sounding board as we seek to expand our product offering.

THE Family

Inverroche is first and foremost a family business. And, while it’s wholeheartedly true that Inverroche’s success is the result of a total team effort, it would be incorrect not to acknowledge that the Scott family have steered Inverroche to the place we find ourselves today.

Of course, without Lorna none of this would exist. A fiercely determined personality who combines passion for distilling with in-depth knowledge of the local biome and an inimitable love for this part of the world; Lorna is quite literally the driving force behind Inverroche.

Michael Scott is a trusted support to Lorna and the Inverroche team, with exceptional understanding of flavour and process due to his background in the culinary arts and holding a Micheline Star, thus providing and enviable sounding board as we seek to expand our product offering.

Rohan and Lauren Scott (son and daughter) were involved from the inception of the Inverroche dream. From Rohan who sat with Lorna at the kitchen table, going through the arduous process of distilling, tasting, and inevitably repeating the process until they arrived at the recipes for the famously known Inverroche Fynbos collection.

In the first stages of Inverroche, Lauren took an active role in developing and guiding the look and feel of the Inverroche brand. Lauren is the founder and brains behind the delicious range of vegan chocolates and ice-creams which can be found at the brand home.

A Growing

Community

Gin is, at its core, a social creation. It is our belief that the creation of the gins themselves should have a social impact beyond the simple enjoyment of our products, and to create opportunity. It is this belief that has kept us heavily involved and linked to our community – as Inverroche prospers, so should the people of Still Bay.

As our gins quickly found an audience both at home and abroad, our extended family has multiplied to keep up with demand. We are extremely proud that just under 70% of our employees are indigenous women from the local area. The knock-on effect is dramatic, it means that at least 45 families are directly sharing in our success!

And, of course, the impact of the distillery is being felt by local business and tourism as more and more people are brought to Still Bay to discover for themselves the unfolding story of our unique gins.

As we expand globally, and have a stronger presence in South Africa, we have also been fortunate to be able to grow our sales and marketing teams to ensure the brand equity and quality remains in the forefront of our local and international fans!

Please Enjoy Inverroche Responsibly