When Dylan Carney graduated from North Carolina State University, his parents noticed he was more interested in taking distillery tours than looking for a full-time job.

At 22, he had entered the world of internships and job applications but the thought of an office job did not excite him.

His interest in craft breweries and distilleries peaked when he reached the legal drinking age of 21 in his homeland and his parents encouraged him to follow his passion.

Dylan then took the decision to enrol in Heriot-Watt University's distilling masters course more than 3000 miles from home.

It was there he helped to develop the recipe for Scotland's first absinthe, Murmichan.

Oil and gas workers Peter Dingan and Richard Pierce had recently created the Lost Loch Distillery in Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, and were looking to break out of Scotland's saturated craft beer and gin markets with a small scale spirit unlike any other.

"Everybody is making gin so we decided to do something a bit different and produce an absinthe instead," explains Peter.

"I did a lot of research, absinthe has always had this really interesting history and quite a fun history, quite dark."

Thought to have originated in Switzerland in the late 18th century, the anise-flavoured spirit with its distinctive green hue became popular in France during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Its association with bohemian culture made it popular with writers and artists, with the likes of Ernest Hemingway, Oscar Wilde, Pablo Picasso and Edgar Allan Poe connoisseurs of the highly alcoholic drink.

Yet absinthe was often portrayed as a highly addictive psychoactive drug and hallucinogen and by 1915 it was banned in the US along with many European countries such as France, Belgium and Switzerland.

Studies have since shown its psychoactive properties had been exaggerated and the spirit enjoyed a revival in the 1990s as countries lifted their bans and cocktail culture led to a rise in absinthe's use in bars across the world.

Keen to bring a Scottish-inspired spirit to bars across the country, Peter and Richard contacted students at Heriot-Watt in Edinburgh, offering to work in collaboration to create Scotland's first absinthe.

Dylan, who had developed a love for the spirit, was an obvious choice for the pair and he travelled to Switzerland and France to research the drink in more detail ahead of distilling the perfect recipe.

"I think consumers are savvy now when it comes to alcohol and drinking habits are changing and people prefer maybe drinking smaller amounts of quality alcohol whereas maybe when I was younger it was all about drinking quantities of less quality alcohol," Peter recalls.

"It's definitely the case because nobody was producing [absinthe] in Scotland because it's such a novel product to produce and quite a fun product to produce as well."

Dylan says: "I firmly believed at the start, and the owners also agreed with me, that there are some great absinthes they already make in Switzerland and France and if we are going to it we should do an interesting and unique way to do it.

"So that's why we used all these local botanicals in the drink."

Dylan takes pride in the recipe he concocted for months as part of his masters degree.

Using traditional botanical grande wormwood, he added green aniseed, fennel, hyssop, star anise, lemon balm and mint.

To add a distinctive Scottish flavour to the potent spirit, the addition of heather flower and blackberry leaves brought a floral taste, while Dylan's favourite ingredient lemon thyme stole the show.

"I opened it up the sample jars and the aroma is just so spicy and strong and powerful that I knew immediately that it had to go in," he says.

"The last ingredient we added in is some Deeside honey, which is also used in our whisky liqueur Harooch."

Made in a similar manner to gin, botanicals are macerated and distilled with an additional step to help bring out the green hue.

The botanicals are soaked again post distillation for aroma and colour, and the spirit can be made in around three to four days.

To make their absinthe even more Scottish, it was named Murmichan, an old Scots word which means "wicked fairy" and ties with absinthe's known moniker of la fée verte - the green fairy.

Murmichan will be the second product to be released by the Lost Loch Dillistery, which first began when Peter created Haroosh from a family recipe handed down the generations for almost a century.

Distilling the sweet liqueur with its notes of honey and bramble in his shed, its unusual name derives from an old Scottish word meaning "a high spirited disorderly gathering".

"A lot of my family were distillers from Dufftown and Tomintoul direction going back into early last century so I do have a connection with the industry and that's where the recipe for Haroosh came from," Peter says.

Peter and Richard hope to continue their quirky Scots theme as they expand their distillery, drawing upon old Scottish words and tales to describe their growing array of products.

Plans are in place to join Scotland's growing gin market with Eenoo in October, an old Scots word meaning "just now, at the present time, in a short time, soon, at once".

The pair have a long-term plan to create a single estate whisky using water and barley grown on Cairnton farm situated just a few miles from the distillery.

Yet the most exciting acquisition for the Lost Loch is Dylan himself, who now works part-time for the company as head distiller and brand ambassador and it is hoped his role will become full-time next year.

"I don't think even two years ago I would have dared to dream it, it was something that I kind of wanted but didn't even think was possible," Dylan says.

"It's just unfolded in front of me into this wonderful experience and I'm grateful for that."