Artist maps UK’s distilleries

A British artist and cartographer has created several hand drawn maps showing the gin and whisky distilleries across the United Kingdom and Ireland.

A detail from the Whisky Map

The range of intricately detailed, drinks-related charts from ‘Manuscript Maps’ also includes one showing the historic pubs of Durham where the artist, Kevin Sheehan, is based.

The ‘Gin Map of Great Britain & Ireland’ shows the 90 gin distilleries in the UK and the Republic as well as the 150 brands they produce between them.

The labels of 30 particularly well-awarded gins grace the border of the map.

The Whisky map concentrates solely on Scotland but features all the single malt and grain distilleries currently open from the Lowlands to Orkney as well as those scheduled to open in the next few years and distilleries closed since the 1960s – but whose whiskies you might still come across.

As with the gin map, the labels of 30 of Scotland’s most famous malt producers have been recreated. It has so far proved his best-seller.

Finally, the ‘Pub Map of Durham’ shows the ‘Tavernes, Innes & Ale-houses’ of the ‘Cittie” of Durham. This is a second edition of the map and, again, includes sketches of some of the most famous and oldest of Durham’s pubs.

Sheehan told the drinks business he would like to do city pub maps of York, Oxford and Cambridge if he finds a commission, but projects currently in the works include are a map of Lindisfarne, a cheese map of the UK, tea and coffee regions of the world and the theatre and opera houses of London.

Other drink related projects include a rum map of the Caribbean, an Irish whiskey map and a map of the fortified wines of Spain and Portugal.

Sheehan told db he hoped to have the rum map completed by the end of the year while the others he would begin in 2017.

Each map takes between 80 and 130 hours to complete, first sketched in pencil and then gone over in ink. Prints of the works are then available to buy.

Writing on his website, Sheehan said: “In this era of digital mapping – which is often starkly utilitarian and clumsy in design and aesthetic – I aim to put the art back into cartography, offering beautiful prints of hand-drawn maps.”

The artist is apparently “open” to suggestions for future maps. Wineries of England and Wales perhaps?

The maps and some details from them can be seen on the following pages. For more information visit the website, here.

The whisky map and another detail, below.

The gin map with detail below.

The pub map of Durham with detail of the area around the University and Cathedral.