There’s no doubting the nation’s ever growing love for gin, regional produce and the desire to connect with food and drink producers. Despite the growth of many exciting regional distilleries, there is not one in the beautiful Chiltern Hills. We want to change that with Puddingstone Distillery, the home of Campfire Gin.
We’re not just bringing a new gin to market though. We’re creating a new destination in the Chilterns. A site from where we’ll produce our Campfire Gin, run tours, tastings and host a series of events that connect people through a shared love of food, drink, culture and the great outdoors. We already have folks waiting for our product and have events planned for 2016 so your generosity and support is crucial to help us get up and running.
Immersed in gin… not literally
Since early 2014 we’ve immersed ourselves in the world of gin. We’ve visited and learned from distillers and suppliers from across the globe, passed industry exams, collaborated on a very unique project and tasted a lot of gin. Our two mini stills have been worked very hard as we’ve refined and developed our unique recipe. Campfire Gin is layered with flavour. Juniper and citrus announce themselves early, leading to nuttiness and ending with a floral, sweet marmalade end.
A better way
Early on in this project we decided to create a mission statement. Putting hydrometers and juniper berries aside we set about focusing on what we wanted our business to be.
’We’re driven to produce a gin of an exceptional and inspirational nature, created with a mindfulness of community and environment.’
Not content with setting ourselves the huge challenge of creating a great gin that people will hopefully enjoy in all manners of serves, we wanted to ensure it was done in a way that works with the environment. The plans for our distillery include solar power and we’re also investigating a way to convert ‘waste’ heat into electricity which in turn aids the distilling process.
Our chosen bottle uses half the glass of a typical container which means a huge reduction in the amount of energy that goes into it’s production, shipping and ultimately recycling.
Like other gin producers, we’ll incorporate local botanicals into a number of our products. More importantly, we are working with a consultant in aquaponics, a sustainable alternative farming system that should allow us to locally grow botanicals that would otherwise have to be sourced from overseas.
More than gin
Remember that mission statement, well there is a second part.
’With an aspiration to invigorate your senses, lead you on adventures near and far, discover simple pleasures and connect with kindred spirits.’
From our experience we know creating and selling is hugely rewarding but so is DOING stuff. That’s why Puddingstone Distillery will be more than just a place where we make gin. We’ve already mentioned the tours, tastings and make your own gin events. But there’s more. We plan to bring you events that engage with all the Chilterns and greater outdoors can offer. We want this distillery to not only produce great gin but be a genuine catalyst for many great things. We’ve already started building collaborations to bring you a number of events – an ’explorers talks’ evening, outdoor cinema, campfire cooking evenings, even a bike race!
Your help
We’ve already invested a lot of time and money into this project. We’re commited to making it a success. There’s still a long way to go though. First off we need a bigger still, plus all the kit for blending, bottling and labeling. We need to kit out the hospitality and shop area. There’s signage, an event marquee, all the bottles and ingredients for the full scale testing and production. It’s quite a shopping list!
Every donation you make takes us a step closer to bringing something new and exciting to the Chilterns region and a great gin closer to your lips.
Thank you
Kate & Ben Marston
Puddingstone® Distillery the home of Campfire Gin®
Spirit of the Outdoors