A Warm and Sunny Hello!
What is this glorious golden orb I see spreading its warmth through the window this morning? Summer is here at last, now lets hope it remains with us for the remainder of the summer holidays.
Im sat here in the kitchen at home writing this just as I’m about to set off to Mainsgill Farm shop near Richmond. As one of our newer stockists we are treating their visitors to an Igneous tasting today. This will be the third one we have done so far, the others being No40 by Bruin in Bearsden and Chestnut House at Pooley Bridge. Both were a great success, so I have high hopes for today, especially with all this glorious sunshine. Time to go and face the music, I’ll pick up once I’m back.
To Be Continued…
Monday afternoon and I have finally had chance to sit down and continue! Yesterday’s tasting was a huge success; we were once again overwhelmed by the stunned reaction of the general public at how amazing our Gin is as well as how stunning they find our bottles. There were a lot of bottles bought for gifts so I’d say there are some lucky people out there about to receive a bottle of Igneous shortly. The Mainsgill team were really pleased with how it went and we have been asked to return to do another event on the run up to Christmas which will be great fun! However, for now, back to July… what can I say! It has been the craziest of months with 2 days still to go!
We started the month off heading to London for our first The Gin To My Tonic Festival in the South. Once again, the lovely folk of Chelsea did not disappoint and we had a fantastic time meeting some brilliant people, some of whom we only know through social media so it was lovely to finally meet them in person.
Alongside this we were also announced as finalist in The Gin To My Tonic Awards 2024 for Newcomer of the Year, Modern Gin and Best Bottle Design. So all in all, it was a great couple of days. It was a particular highlight to get to meet our friends The Ginfluencers UK in person and have them invite us back to their Gin Den, WOW! They have the most unbelieve collection of Gin and other spirits from all over the world, including Igneous now as well.
Once back from London, it was a couple of days at home and then straight back to Ardnamurchan to the Distillery to get our two batches bottled, totalling 400 bottles. It took me a good couple of days to work my way through them all and at the same time I decided to distill another batch in anticipation of a busy summer ahead. My arms and hands definitely struggled to hand cork and label 400 bottles in one go but as it stands, I’m pleased I’ve done that as we are running low on stock already and will need to go back and bottle again shortly.
On my way home, I swung by our lovely friends and stockists at No40 By Bruin at Bearsden to do our first ever Meet The Maker tasting event. What a gorgeous little shop full to the brim with delights from homewares, treats, spirits and so much more. Exactly the type of stockist myself and Katie always wanted to work with as they keep the same ethos as us in how they work and run their business. We hope to be back there again sometime soon.
Once home it was time to try get on top of the back log of bottle production and help out where I could. Poor Katie is being stretched to her limit in the studio getting things ready for not only the summer ahead, but also trying to prepare for Christmas and our biggest show of the year at Glasgow SEC in October. The help was interrupted again as I went to meet with a potential new distributor in the Midlands and also had a day at the brilliant Spirit of Manchester Distillery of Manchester Gin.
This was in aid of the Actually Made In campaign which we are part of and an advocate for. Trying to highlight the importance of transparency when talking about where your products are distilled. A huge part of the UK spirits market is produced through contract distilling, which in itself is not an issue and actually a vital part of the market. However, we feel as part of this campaign, if you say your product is, for example, a West Highland Dry Gin from Ardnamurchan, then the Gin inside it should by all accounts be made on Ardnamurchan, not by a larger contract distiller in Sheffield (purely an example). It’s disingenuous at best and we feel it can be misleading to consumers that believe they are buying a product made in a particular location.
We are proud of the work we have put in, and the money and time invested to allow us to create our gin for consumers in the beautiful location we say it originates from, and feel this work and effort should be allowed to stand clear of other products that are not produced in the same way. This is not to say there is anything wrong with those products, but they should at least make clear, for whatever reason, that it is not “Actually Made In”. It may be that one day they intend to, but they should be proud of the journey they are taking to get their product to market.
Anyway, moving on…
We have however just come back from a lovely week off with the boys for the first week of their summer holidays. Kicking the week off with the wedding of Katies Brother and new Wife Jonathan and Stella. It was a beautiful wedding in the Lake District with lots of fun had by all. No Igneous behind the bar though, so that was a bit of a downer. Shows I still have plenty of work to be doing!
We then headed to Pooley Bridge, Ullswater camping for the remainder of the week. It really is a stunning part of the world and just happens to be home to our top stockists that are Chestnut House. These guys know how to sell and also, could not be anymore friendly and helpful if you’re looking for a new tipple to try or to buy for a friend; so if you’re ever in the North Lakes you really must pop by and say hello. Whilst we were there we took a few hours to do a Meet The Maker event with them which was good fun and really engaged with the passing public in Pooley Bridge.
Finally, back home and head down for the next few weeks getting our bottle stock looking more healthy again. But you know me well enough by now, I also have an aim to try and find a suitable stockist in London and in the south before the end of August so I’ve got my game face on and lets see what we can achieve.
I’ll leave you with an exciting little development that has just been confirmed… We are going to be featured in Home & Interiors Scotland Magazine for September/October edition! A chance meeting with the owner at our Tasting event in No40 By Bruin has opened this door and what a lovely surprise it is. I’ll have to get a copy and frame it; that’s the sort of thing my dad would have done.
Enjoy the warmth, soak in the summer and pour yourself an Igneous.
See you in another month, thank you for reading.
Miles and Katie x