The brand will be donating £1 per bottle of its AK’s Gin to MND, named after Alex Kirkwood Stirling who recently passed away after suffering from MND, the father of the Stirling brothers and owners of the Distillery.
Announcing this charitable donation in April, which would have been Alex Stirling’s 84th birthday is a fitting celebration of his life and will provide an on-going legacy.
The brothers have a close relationship with MDN Scotland and the Euan MacDonald Research Centre, which will allow them to work closely with the charities to ensure their fundraising will help those affected by MND.
Director, Iain Stirling commented: “Our family is keen to support the great work already being done by our partners to support, prevent & cure Motor Neurone Disease whilst also celebrating the life of our father Alex Stirling, a humble and hard-working farmer, who along with our mother gave us a great start to our drinks business and inspires us to create a truly world class family of spirits. Everything that goes into our drinks is grown by our farming business that was built by our mum and dad, and it just seemed an appropriate way to keep dad’s memory alive and to give something back.”
Professor Siddharthan Chandran, director of the Euan Macdonald Centre at The University of Edinburgh said: “We are immensely grateful to the Stirling brothers for their support of MND research. Celebrating the life of their father in this way provides a wonderful legacy. It will help us improve quality of life for the people with MND and support drug trials and help us develop new medicines to treat this devastating condition.”
Iain McWhirter, Head of Fundraising at MND Scotland, said: “We are delighted that the Arbikie Distillery, and the Stirling family, are making their ‘pledge’ from all ongoing sales of their AK’s Gin to support the work of MND Scotland.
“MND Scotland is the leading Scottish charity providing physical, financial and emotional support to people affected by Motor Neurone Disease, as well as funding ground-breaking research into a cure. We wouldn’t be able to do any of this if it wasn’t for people like the Stirling family helping us reach even higher.
“We have been humbled by the charity spirit of the Stirling family and we’re looking forward to working with Arbikie Distillery to make a big difference in the lives of people affected by MND.”