won an award in The Spirits Business, Gin Masters. We set out to celebrate with our friends and family over a BBQ and our friend and colleague Laura, who has been with the business since the launch of our London Dry and who enjoys her craft spirits suggested to celebrate, we should launch another spirit. Returning to our family recipe book we decided that using the London Dry as a base and creating a pink gin – Laura’s tipple of choice funnily enough! – would be perfect. We opted for a rhubarb inspired Sixtowns Pink Gin, a sweet, fruity and refreshing pink gin perfect for summer evening G&Ts. We also revamped our Sixtowns London Dry Gin with a silver label to celebrate the silver award we achieved and did a limited edition run of just 1,000 bottles. What are your most popular products? The gin boom sent gin soaring to popularity and although rum has been named up and coming on many occasions and is proving very popular, we see no sign of the demand for gin slowing down. Have any styles/trends taken you by surprise with their popularity? We are well aware that we are in a very saturated market hence why we chose to do something very different and have our bottles made in ceramic rather than glass, it helps of course that it’s a nod to our home, our heritage and the inspiration behind our brand and we were lucky to team up with a local ceramic company to produce our amazing and unique pot bank shape bottles. So, seeing brands who are also using unique vessels to stand out from the crowd such as Engine who use a tin engine oil can and the play on words as gin is within engine we always find interesting! How do you keep your designs fresh and current? Do you follow trends? Our design is so unique and includes details such as our distillery name Bros Distillery which is on the back of our bottles but we always look for ways in which we can add finer details. We chose a copper label and cork from the outset to represent the copper stills in which gin is traditionally distilled. And along the way we have added extra details such as the kiln detail to our custom-made corks! We’re big believers that the devil is in the detail! What sets you apart from your competitors? As we mentioned earlier distilling is in our genes, we’re proud to be able to do something we are so very passion about. Our experience and knowledge from working with so many craft distilleries have proven invaluable. Our family recipes of course! And our stunning British made porcelain bottles definitely make our spirits stand out from the crowd. Are you involved in any charitable initiatives? Absolutely, we donate several bottles a month to local charities for them to auction or raffle off. One even raised over £300 for Greyhound Gap based in Kidsgrove. We also sell Sixtowns Christmas cards and donate the money raised to charities each year. How are you finding the current climate in the UK? Is it affecting business? Of course, it’s a challenging time for any business but we’re passionate about Sixtowns and we’ve recently relocated to the World of Wedgwood, Wedgwoods flagship UK store site where we are expanding and will have a retail shop, bar, distillery tours and gin school so I think being able to adapt and change to meet the demands of your customers is vital and we can’t wait for visitors to come from near and far to see us! Are you active on social media? How is this important for the business? It’s amazing, we love the response we get from our socials and it’s vital to promoting our brand and showcasing our products. We love that we are able to share news with our customers in an instant and that we our customers can see what we are up to. Do you have any advice for new businesses starting out in the world of gifts? Make it stand out! It needs to be eye catching and ideally ready to gift. Our bottles are for sure what draws our customers in and the contents is what makes them come back for more. What can we expect in the future from the company? There is so much to come from us. Even when our shop and bar is open we’ve more to offer and we’ll be starting work on the second floor of our unit so we can provide even more exciting experiences for our visitors. SIXTOWNS GIN www.sixtownsgin.co.uk 111 UP AND COMING
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTA0NTE=