Last week, locally-produced Wheadon’s Gin was showcased at the world premiere of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society in London.
Now, the island’s Blue Bottle gin is set to be launched on the US market within weeks – with the distinctive blue bottles already being sold around the world, from Ulan Bator in Mongolia to Nairobi in Kenya as well as across Europe.
Meanwhile, Guernsey’s White Rock Brewery is targeting export sales for its recently-launched Unit Six gin in the UK, Europe and the Middle East. All three gins feature local ingredients.
Luke Wheadon, who produces Wheadon’s Gin, said it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be involved in a film launch and to be able to showcase a Guernsey product off-island. His gin featured at a press event before the screening of the Potato Peel Pie film and at the after-party.
‘We have started exporting to the UK now. Furthest afield we have sent some gin is to New Zealand. We have a pallet of gin going to New Zealand as we speak and we are speaking to distributors in Sweden,’ he said.
Wheadon’s Gin is also being listed on two major retail websites in the UK, while between 20,000 and 24,000 bottles are set to be produced this year.
Mr Wheadon said gin was proving popular because of interest in artisan products which had a story and interesting flavours.
Matt Polli, who developed Blue Bottle gin, also said provenance was an important selling point. He is set to visit the US shortly to help launch the Guernsey-made gin there.
‘We have grown really beyond our expectations. We had a business plan, which we out-reached, and it has given us the confidence to go to the US,’ said Mr Polli, head of brewing and distilling at R.W. Randall Ltd. ‘We will be there in three weeks, starting in New York and then in a couple of months we are going to go to California.’
He added that 35,000 bottles of Blue Bottle were produced in the last financial year, with the vast majority going to export sales. Thanks to a deal with one of the world’s largest duty-free shop operators, Gebr Heinemann, the product is sold around the world.
White Rock Brewery has begun production of its premium Unit Six gin and has already signed a deal with Waitrose to stock the drink in a number of UK stores.
The company also says that talks to start distribution in Asia and the Middle East are nearing completion.
n We have been asked to clarify that while freesias are one of the botanicals used in the making of Unit Six, the gin has a complex array of flavours with leading notes of citrus and pepper.
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