The Garden Shed Drinks Company

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The Garden Shed Drinks Company

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The Garden Shed Drinks Company was established in 2017 with an aim to be both ethical and environmentally friendly.

We sat down with Maxine Grant, one of the four founders of the garden shed drinks company to find out more.

THE TEAM

The Garden Shed Drinks Company was founded by four friends who, after some red wine sitting around the dinner table and a recent trip to a local gin distillery, decided they thought it would be fun to make their own gin!

Maxine has a beauty therapy background and moved to Scotland from Zambia in 2000, when she met her husband Ryan, one of the other founders who was playing professional rugby at the time. Ryan was raised in the tropical country of Malaysia, he played rugby for 13 years following 3 years in the British Army. With a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science, Ryan keeps the business on track with their environmental goals. Kirstin Jackson is passionate about gin and doing her part to benefit the environment. Kirstin’s role within the company is to keep spirits high, graphics on point and to sample the newest gin on the shelves. Ruaridh, Kirstin’s husband, is the fourth founding member. Ruaridh has been playing professional rugby for just over 14 years and hopes to continue playing for few more years yet! Ruaridh’s motto: “Not only do we make great spirits; we all have a genuine love for the world we live in and a desire to make a difference. Above all else, we’ll have a whole lot of fun!”

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HOW IT ALL BEGAN

After Ryan visited a local distillery and the two couples decided they wanted to make their own gin they bought a still from Amazon. The instructions were in German so there was a bit of translating involved. They then hunted for ingredients in the garden; hint, starting to develop the name here! The recipe started with lavender, blackberries and dandelion root and they built it from there, now using 13 botanicals in their recipe. Maxine says, “It took about 4-6 months to get a decent recipe, I mean we made some horrendous ones as it was a little harder than we thought.” Success also didn’t come without any mishaps; during one of the first times distilling Ryan and Ruaridh were in the kitchen and after a mishap with some Paraffin oil the whole kitchen was in a cloud of black smoke. Maxine says, “Everything was covered in black soot. I said to them ‘You’re not doing that in my house anymore, you’re doing that in the garden.’ Hence the name.” Eventually, the magic happened, and on December 20th, 2017 they distilled and launched their first gin, with their perfected recipe.

Bumblebee Conservation Trust

Another portion of their profits goes to Trees4Scotland. They plant one tree for every 6 bottles they sell to try and offset carbon emissions. That’s where their slogans, “Planting trees and saving bees” and “Trying to save the planet one drink at a time” come from. Make sure that we’re having fun. They didn’t want it to be corporate. They wanted a laid-back approach. Maxine explained that they never really expected it was going to be as big a success as it has become and how it started out as a bit of fun! The original idea, and the reason behind the name, was that they wanted to convert their shed into a mini distillery, but with alcohol regulations etc that just wasn’t possible so they distilled at Eden Mill. They launched their gin for the first time at a Glasgow Warriors and partners night out, the team both Ryan and Ruaridh were playing for at the time, and they used their rugby connections to promote the company. With the help of other rugby greats, and the power of social media the launch night was a huge success and in two weeks they had sold out their first batch. They decided they needed to do another batch and doubled it this time, this was a huge risk considering they were using their personal assets, but the risk is surely but slowly taking off!

cocktail-glass-min

HOW IT ALL BEGAN

After Ryan visited a local distillery and the two couples decided they wanted to make their own gin they bought a still from Amazon. The instructions were in German so there was a bit of translating involved. They then hunted for ingredients in the garden; hint, starting to develop the name here! The recipe started with lavender, blackberries and dandelion root and they built it from there, now using 13 botanicals in their recipe. Maxine says, “It took about 4-6 months to get a decent recipe, I mean we made some horrendous ones as it was a little harder than we thought.” Success also didn’t come without any mishaps; during one of the first times distilling Ryan and Ruaridh were in the kitchen and after a mishap with some Paraffin oil the whole kitchen was in a cloud of black smoke. Maxine says, “Everything was covered in black soot. I said to them ‘You’re not doing that in my house anymore, you’re doing that in the garden.’ Hence the name.” Eventually, the magic happened, and on December 20th, 2017 they distilled and launched their first gin, with their perfected recipe.

Bumblebee Conservation Trust

Another portion of their profits goes to Trees4Scotland. They plant one tree for every 6 bottles they sell to try and offset carbon emissions. That’s where their slogans, “Planting trees and saving bees” and “Trying to save the planet one drink at a time” come from. Make sure that we’re having fun. They didn’t want it to be corporate. They wanted a laid-back approach. Maxine explained that they never really expected it was going to be as big a success as it has become and how it started out as a bit of fun! The original idea, and the reason behind the name, was that they wanted to convert their shed into a mini distillery, but with alcohol regulations etc that just wasn’t possible so they distilled at Eden Mill. They launched their gin for the first time at a Glasgow Warriors and partners night out, the team both Ryan and Ruaridh were playing for at the time, and they used their rugby connections to promote the company. With the help of other rugby greats, and the power of social media the launch night was a huge success and in two weeks they had sold out their first batch. They decided they needed to do another batch and doubled it this time, this was a huge risk considering they were using their personal assets, but the risk is surely but slowly taking off!

The first Good Spirits Company was the first bottle shop to take it on and they have expanded from there. Fast forward nearly two years and the gin is available across the central belt with over 100 stockists of their Gin including Dobbies nationwide as well as being available in around 25 countries worldwide. They are also award-winning, taking home a silver medal in May 2018 at the World Spirits Competition in San Francisco which is a highly respected event. They were also nominated at the Scottish Gin Awards for the Scottish London Dry Gin of the Year and for Excellence in Branding in both 2018 and 2019.

Bees Knees Week

For the past two years, in September, Garden Shed Drinks Company have put on Bees Knees Week. They hand out seed packs that they make to all the participating bars in Glasgow and Edinburgh and each bar sells their own take on a Bees Knees cocktail with gin, honey and lemon juice. Every person that orders one gets a seed pack, and a portion of the drink’s profits go to the Bumblebee Conservation Trust.

NEW PRODUCTS

Since red wine was responsible for the creation of The Garden Shed Drinks Company, they decided to buy two Côte-Rôtie red wine casks from the South of France. They then aged their gin for three months in these casks which completely changed the flavour profile; it also came out pink! Maxine says, “It was a pink gin for a more mature palette.” This was the first time that they knew of anyone doing this. Their limited edition Côte-Rôtie Aged Gin was released on 20th December 2018, exactly a year after the release of Garden Shed Gin, with only 600 bottles available in the batch.

They also have plans for a new product; full strength flavoured gin, so keep an eye on their social channels for any announcements!

Photos: Craig Watson and The Gin Cooperative

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Category: UncategorizedBy Kirsty Simpson October 17, 2019

Author: Kirsty Simpson