That's a wrap for 2022!
WOW!! 2022…. the year that left us all feeling like we just tried to wax an angry grizzly bear!!
None of us will be feeling sorry to turn the page on 2022, good things have happened, the lionesses brought it home and scientist in America have mastered nuclear fusion but on balance it’s been a stinker on many levels, and it was definitely not what any of us had hoped for after two tough COVID years.
However, gin fans, as all consumers of the ambrosial nectar are, I am an optimist and we need to learn from our issues, look forward rather than look back and enable the change we want to see in the world around us.
As a family owned, rural SME, we have had to deal with some serious headwinds this year, spiralling costs and the cost-of-living crisis have been brutal whilst going toe to toe with the guys and their mass produced mediocrity. It has not been fun, but we have kept pushing forward and have still achieved some amazing things.
We have recently celebrated our 10-year anniversary, that’s ten years of focussing on quality, provenance, authenticity and nature positivity to provide you great people with the best tasting liquids, with genuine authenticity that do good for the environment.
To mark the occasion, we launched a limited-edition Old Tom gin which is a bloody masterpiece if I do say so myself. The name was an intentional pun about my age but also a nod to a sweeter style of gin, we haven’t used sugar in this product, but we have achieved sweetness with botanicals like sweet Sicily from our farm.
Tours are back at the farm; this has been a difficult one to get off the ground due to resource post Covid but they are back and will be in full flow from the end of January in 2023. Come and see the botanicals and distillation process and be entertained by our fantastic team.
We delivered our biggest ever summer campaign which saw us regularly feature in Olive magazine, the tube across London and a small pop-up bar in Covent Garden during June.
We have been officially accredited as a BCorp business, this has taken us over three years to achieve and puts us in a group of 6,000 businesses globally that are using business as a force for good in the world.
Tina and I got to the final of the EY Entrepreneur of the year after winning the Midlands and South East final. Sadly, Timo the founder of Gousto pipped us, he is an amazing guy with a fantastic business so it couldn’t have gone to a better person.
Our 0% launched into Waitrose, so it is now nationally distributed in M&S and Waitrose. This is a fantastic achievement for us and is now the fastest growing part of our business.
Our London Dry and Rhubarb launched in over 500 Tesco’s stores which is our biggest retail listing ever and a real testament to our team, our liquids.
The biggest achievement this year has got to be the launch of Nature Marque, this has probably gone under your radar, but we hope it becomes big news for the planet. We wanted to take our nature positivity beyond the boundaries of our farm and Nature Marque is that vehicle. It is an accreditation that helps, bars, pubs, hotels and restaurants turn their outside spaces into Nature Positive environments. We can’t change the world alone but working collaboratively we can.
So it’s been a hard year, with plenty of ups and downs but we couldn’t have got through without you, our fantastic customers. When you purchase from us you support a family business of 37 people who are all working tirelessly to make you the best possible liquid for you to enjoy.
So cheers to you, we wish you all a very merry Christmas and an awesome 2023.
