2023 has started off on a pretty impressive footing for our tiny copper distillery. Four medals in the World Gin Awards.
I once got told by a loyal customer that we don’t shout enough about our accomplishments in the distillery. Perhaps that’s true.
In fact before writing this I had no idea how many medals we’d won over the past seven years.
I’ve just counted. It’s 17.
For a tiny little copper distillery, distilling in batches of just 200 bottles at a time, that’s pretty cool.
But here’s the reason we don’t shout about it all the time.
It’s not our focus.
Our mission is to craft the best possible spirits we can. Day in day out. We source, forage and pick the best ingredients. We take our time. We macerate for ridiculously long periods because that is the way we create flavours.
That’s not to say the medals and awards aren’t important. They are. But they’re not what we’re chasing.
During the awards, one of the judges was shocked at the length of time we macerate our gin for.
‘Can’t you reduce that time?’ she said to me.
‘Sure’ I replied, ‘but it would change the flavour and character’.
I could see she remained unconvinced by my answer.
Then the awards we announced.
Her only comment after it all finished ‘keep doing what you’re doing’.
For me that was more valuable than the medals. It was an acknowledgement of our process.
And process is everything.
So our plan for 2023? To keep doing what we’re doing. It’s what we’ve been doing for 7 years.
It works. The medals prove it.
So do the loyal customers that purposely hide our spirits at the back of their cupboards so that no one else drinks it. It’s a strange compliment to be told. But I’ll take it.
Cheers
Chris Marshall, Master Distiller
