By Mike Robertson
It all started a year ago in August 2025. Michael Hanratty and Stuart Brown, who already knew each other through Michael’s connection with the whisky industry got together and decided to produce a unique gin in support of the Scottish Charity Air Ambulance (SCAA).
Most gins pair juniper with coriander, but they paired it with French tarragon, which they believe no one else in the UK does. About 35–40 SCAA pilots, paramedics, marketing staff and volunteers scored three trial gins: floral, citrus and spiced. They picked the spiced one for its “Scottish, heathery, warm spice” character. Michael, himself, got involved in production. Dressed in whites, a hat and gloves, and he weighed out the botanicals and started the steeping himself.
A new gin for a good cause.
Deerness Distillery’s new gin is called Frelsa, named from the Old Norse for “to deliver, rescue or save,” in partnership with SCAA. The aim is to raise £250,000 over five years. Each bottle sold in the distillery shop or online gives £8 to SCAA, retail sales give £5 and wholesale gives £3. Michael Hanratty of SCAA said it’s unusual for a donation to come from every bottle rather than just a limited run.
The design echoes the helicopter. Lemon, lavender and tarragon were chosen partly to match the helicopter’s yellow, blue and green colours. The back of the label shows the Standing Stones of Stenness with the helicopter flying across, a bit like a snow globe.
Orkney relies on SCAA heavily. It has flown 262 missions to Orkney in 12 years, and almost all of them came after the Aberdeen base opened six years ago. So far this year, 31 of the 123 missions in the Highlands and Islands were to Orkney. Flying can save several hours compared with ferry and road, which gives hospital teams far more time to save a patient.
Michael’s job with SCAA is to travel around the Highlands and Islands and tell everybody about the service and to raise enough money to keep it going. Running costs are £10.3 million a year now and are expected to reach £15 million by 2030.
An average mission costs £7,257
- a crew helmet £2,254
- fuel for a mission £386.
He had with him a range of merchandise. One is a small comfort teddy and buying one pays for one to be given to an injured child on board.
Michael’s personal reason for working there is that SCAA helped save his niece after a head-on crash in 2017. Ask by a member of the audience how she’s doing now, he replied she’s a “cheeky wee bugger” and doing fine.
The Frelsa Saga
This was written by Elaine Stewart who read it out to great applause.
In the wilds of Scotland, where mountains stand like old kings and the sea carves its will upon every shore, the people lived between storm and stillness. They knew well that fate can turn as swiftly as a raven’s flight, and that danger comes without herald or horn. For roads are long, and the weather is fierce, and life is a fragile thing in a country shaped by wind and water.
In those days the folk forged Frelsa, a name drawn from the ancient word for freeing and deliverance. They set in it the courage of those who keep watch from glen to island, and the steadfastness of those who answer the call when others cannot. It was a name, a tribute to all who stand between peril and peace.
And across the realm it was told that Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance rode the sky as once the saga heroes rode their longships: swift, sure and unyielding. Where distance threatened, they crossed it. When time ran thin, they outran it. Where life hung by a thread, they held fast with honour and skill.
The people of Scotland made a vow to raise their cups, their wit and their coin, that the sky riders might continue their life-saving work. They gathered for an eve of tales and keen minds, an assembly of knowledge as sharp as the northern wind. And though laughter rose like smoke from the hall, the purpose beneath it was solemn and true. For every answer given, every team assembled, every coin offered, was a tribute to those who fly into danger so that others may live.
Thus it was said: “Let Frelsa be poured, let fellowship be strong, and let the lifeline in the sky never falter.”
And the people answered: “We stand together — for Scotland, for each other, for those who seek.”
