Saxa Vord distillery, home to Shetland Reel, is located at the northern end of Unst, the most northerly inhabited island in the UK, only accessible from the Shetland mainland by two ferry journeys. The Shetland Distillery Company was created in 2013 by four people with a shared desire to build not only the most northerly Scotch whisky distillery and the most northern gin distillery in the UK. Debbie and Frank Strang, owners of Saxa Vord holiday resort on the island, partnered with Stuart and Wilma Nickerson, owners of independent bottler The Malt Whisky Company. The first commercial distillation of gin at the first and only licensed distillery in Shetland was run in September 2014. It is now jointly owned by Debbie and Frank Strang, with a portfolio of gins and whiskies.