'Outlander' Star Sam Heughan Brings Sassenach Gin to the Hamptons

The new trend of stars behind the bar in the Hamptons continued at Sí Sí in East Hampton on Sunday, July 30 with a special, invite-only tasting from Scottish hunk and Outlander star Sam Heughan who was in town promoting his newly released Sassenach Wild Scottish Gin.

Heughan’s appearance comes after a series of celebrity liquor endorsements out east this summer, including Mark Wahlberg with Flecha Azul Tequila at Sí Sí in June and Bryan Cranston bartending his Dos Hombres mezcal at Kissaki two weeks later. Not to mention Neil Patrick Harris, who was scheduled to be slinging drinks at East Hampton’s nearby Sunset Harbor restaurant, also on Sunday, for Thomas Ashbourne Craft Spirits.

And who could forget a masked Kendall Jenner serving up her 818 Tequila at 75 Main and other hotspots in the summer of 2021?

Those lucky enough to attend on Sunday got to enjoy tasting Heughan’s new gin, which follows his award-winning, Outlander-inspired, premium blended Scotch whisky, and his El Tequileno tequila, both under The Sassenach brand.

“This is our first time here, I’ve never spent time here but I want to come back and spend more time — it’s beautiful,” Heughan said on Sunday, adding, “Our gin is extremely refreshing, especially in a gin and tonic and in a lot of the cocktails that we are making here today. We just hope people enjoy it.”

The third in Heughan’s line of fine spirits, The Sassenach Wild Scottish Gin dropped June 15 and is described as perfectly capturing the fresh, balanced, and authentic taste of Scotland’s vibrant wild nature.

“I wanted to get it right. I wanted to create something that’s a representation of Scotland and where I’m from,” Heughan said. “We distilled every botanical individually — tried about 30 different botanicals, put them all together and finally came up with this mix of unique botanicals,” he continued. “They are all from Scotland [the botanicals] and the gin is where I’m from: southwest of Scotland. It’s made there — it’s essentially where I grew up, rural Scotland. Everything you would see walking through the Scottish landscape, walking through a glen or a forest you’d find in there.”

He pointed one special ingredient that truly represents his homeland.

“Everything in there is obviously from where I’m from. It’s very personal to me. I grew up there, and I remember my mum making rhubarb crumble or blackberry crumble. We got Heather in there which is obviously quintessentially Scottish. You’ll see a lot of Scotsmen wearing their bonnet in their hat, traditional dresses. It flowers every year — it’s a shrub that grows all over the mountains in Scotland.”

At sassenachspirits.com, the tasting notes go further to describe it:

“Journey through the glens, forests, and mountains of Scotland, and you’ll discover the wealth of unique botanicals that inspired Sam Heughan to craft a gin that perfectly captures Scotland’s abundant larder. Clean, fresh, and vibrant notes of apples, berries, and juniper are gently balanced with savory undertones of rhubarb and toasted oats. Pine and floral heather accents evoke the aromatic natural heritage of Sam’s Scottish homeland.”

For those missing the fun of Starz’s hit series Outlander, Heughan famously plays James Fraser, an 18th century Scottish highlander and lover of his English wife from hundreds of years in the future, Claire (Caitríona Balfe), who he affectionately calls “Sassenach.”

Outlander is currently in Season 7 and airing episodes weekly on Starz, though past seasons can be found on Netflix.

–With Alexis Cornachio