Each year, as December comes around, there is a natural urge to look back. To pause. To consider what’s been and what’s ahead.
It’s also a valuable time here, in our beautiful copper distillery to bring the small team together, pull up a stool at our bar, and lift a G&T to another year.
With the stills off, and the day’s work done, it’s a little time of quiet.
A chance to reflect on what we’ve done – and where we’ve come as a distillery over the past twelve months.
A chance to escape the humdrum of daily life and lift a glass of something special.
This annual drink has never exactly been a planned ‘event’ in our tiny distillery. Rather it seems to be one that naturally occurs as Xmas orders go out and the stocks of what we’ve crafted deplete around us.
This year, we lifted a G&T made with Foragers Yellow label Gin. It’s our slightly more delicate, floral expression of Foragers. The original too. The very first spirit we distilled.
In fact, it’s the spirit that picked up our 1st award: and put us on the map. The spirit that set the signature style that Foragers is renowned for.
As many of you will know we moved the distillery a few miles down the road around five years ago.
The original location was cute. Picturesque. A converted barn made with Welsh stone, that looked out over the rolling hills of Snowdonia, and from the window, we could see the botanicals that gave Foragers its flavors.
When tasting spirits – aromas have this uncanny ability to transport us to past times and events. Aromas can unveil deep memories we’d almost forgotten were there.
For me the Forager’s Yellow Label G&T I was holding, took me back to the very early days of the distillery. To a specific memory and when I grabbed a pen and wrote the ‘core’ rule, the core philosophy of the distillery on the wall.
Written before the stills were even in place, this rule would set the tone. It was a promise to both myself and my craft of how I’d distill each batch.
Rule #1
Take your time
Never cut corners
Never compromise
It’s remained at the heart of what we’ve done at the distillery ever since. New members of the team have to buy into this approach. Because the way we do things is the secret behind the quality of what we produce.
The rule goes against almost everything ones learns in business school. It is not efficient. But it works.
Stood here, seven years on with G&T in hand. I now see its application as far broader than a production method: it’s a philosophy of a good life.
So this year I raise my glass to you – the people who supported this distillery from day one. Who made all these things possible. Find a time to pause. Raise a glass. Take your time. Never cut corners, never compromise.
Here’s to the future.
Cheers
Chris Marshall
Master Distiller & Founder.
