Helensburgh gin inspired by unique lamb with 'jelly legs'

Jelly Legs Gin was created by John and Debbie from Townhead Farm and launched with a bramble liqueur gin six months ago in December 2023.

Following a positive reception in Helensburgh and across the country, the brand is releasing their dry gin on Friday, May 17 during Helensburgh’s Beer and Gin Festival.

Debbie said: “It’s been incredible. The town has embraced the gin and we’re posting it out every week all over the country.

"It's been great and the gin has been warmly welcomed.

“The second gin is being launched at the gin festival and it’s going to be called the Helensburgh Dry Gin.”

Jelly Legs Gin was named after a lamb born on the farm in 2022 who weighed just one kilogram and could not use her front legs when she was born due to a disease she contacted in the womb.

While she is now fit and healthy, her tiny frame and inability to stand as a newborn earned her the name Jelly Legs.

Plans for the gin had been in the backburner for several years but were unable to materialise.

However, when the bird flu epidemic hit UK farms in 2023, Debbie and John decided to invest in their idea.

Debbie continued: “My main concern was that we are primarily egg producers and there’s been a huge problem with bird flu throughout the country and if our chickens get that, our business is gone overnight.

“I enjoy an odd tipple and I had plans seven or eight years ago to make a slow gin but the plants we had planted never really came to fruition.

“But we had a tremendous crop of brambles last year, so the obvious thing was bramble gin.”

To find out more about Jelly Legs Gin and the sheep herself, visit: www.townheadfarm.net/jelly-legs.

To purchase tickets for the Helensburgh Beer and Gin Festival, visit: www.helensburghheart.com/event-details/helensburgh-charity-beer-gin-festival.