The Journey of The Shropshire Distillery...
While our business has led us to where we are today, we weren’t always as established as we are now.
As many of you will know, the Distillery is run by me (Emma) with a little help (when I let him!) from my husband, Gareth – but did you know the business first started right inside our own home?
Driven by a love of gin and a desire to create a business that fitted in with our family life, The Shropshire Distillery first began all the way back in 2016. It’s humbling to look back now on where it all began but we love that our business is family-run, and we’ve never lost (and never will!) our core values and ambitions.
So, grab a glass and let me tell you the story of our Distillery so far:
2016: The Beginning of our Adventure
We moved to Shropshire from Lancashire in 2012 and our Distillery story first began four years later following the purchase of a 'locally' priduced gin, which we later discovered was not as locally produced as informed. Following alot of research, long conversations and gaining the correct and relevant licences and permissions we made the decision, along with our daughter, Lily, and our Vizsla mascot, Calla, to set up our first Distillery, the ‘Gin Shed’ in our family home.
July 2018: Our First Gin
We launched The Shropshire Distillery with our very first gin! This first product was labelled under our original product name of "Shire Gin” and incorporates delicate rose notes, liquorice, and cassia warmth with the fresh sweetness of orange citrus and zesty grapefruit dryness. Just delicious!
December 2018: Not Sugar – but Spice!
Following the success with our first, we released our second gin, Spiced Gin at the end of the year! Our Spiced Gin is an aromatic warming blend with spiced notes from cassia, cubebs, and sweet orange - perfect for the winter months but to be enjoyed all year round!
February 2019: Cherry and Pink Peppercorn!
Just two months after releasing our spiced blend, our Distillery delivered it’s third blend – which didn’t disappoint! OurCherry and Pink Peppercorn Gin is fruity, peppery, and gorgeously aromatic but stays true to our original juniper-led dry gin!
July 2019: IWSC Awards!
The perfect end to a family holiday, we received the news that our Shire Gin and Spiced Gin spirits had won two International Wine and Spirit Competition awards! For half a century, the IWSC has been recognising and awarding the very best wines and spirits all over the world – and we are honoured to be a part of this group!
January 2020: Navy-strength and packed with flavour!
2020 came with a strong start as we introduced our new, Navy Strength Gin, A Higher proofed version of our Dry Gin, this juniper-led gin is full of flavour with a peppery afternote – and goes perfect with lime-peel and a light tonic! Or neat with ice for the Brave!
August 2020: New Home – And Awards!
Seven months after welcoming our fourth gin, we moved in to our new self and purpose-built distillery! This was the month we also were able to celebrate the success of all four core range gins being recognised with a Silver Award from the London Spirit Competition!
May 2021: Gin Schooling!
Following the difficult months brought on by the Coronavirus pandemic, we decided on the perfect way to bring everyone back together – whilst also involving gin of course! We launched our Gin School and Tour Experiences, where guests can experience the magic of our Distillery first-hand.
October 2021: Our re-branding!
October didn’t just pass bringing the spirit of Christmas, for this was the start of our re-branding: The Small Batch Spirit of Shropshire! This was an exciting change for us and was a real pinnacle moment in showing just how far our business has come. We’ve always been The Shropshire Distillery but wanted to focus on this and by looking through the Spirit of Shropshire you can see the purity and clarity of our spirits and our ethos. We have also worked to reduce our plastic use and carbon footprint too!
We also released our AFTER NOON liqueurs range - something we had been working on behind the scenes to create a lower ABV spirit you could enjoy at home to create simple no faff cocktails.
February 2022: Shropshire Top Trumps!
Following all the new introductions of 2021, 2022 couldn’t have started better for The Shropshire Distillery! Christmas came late as we won UK Distillery Of The Year at The Prestige Awards – and were able to celebrate a 5-star-rating on both TripAdvisor and Google! We love to hear genuine feedback from our guests and shoppers – and to see how much people enjoy our business was a perfect start to the year!
October 2022: Christmas Is Coming!
As we head into the end of this year, we’re working hard behind-the-scenes to get our Christmas Limited Edition blends perfect and ready for you all! We cannot wait for you to celebrate Christmas with our gorgeous flavours!
As you can see, it’s been a busy four years that’s taken a lot of hard work but we’ve loved every moment of the Gin journey that our family has been on so far. There is still so much more to come as we continue to create classic, honest and handcrafted products. We have new and exciting projects on the way, details of which we can't share just for now. We have plans to release new products in 2023 including new liqueurs being added to the AFTER NOON range!
If you would like to join us on our journey and be kept up to date with all of our product releases, distillery and nationwide event details then click here to sign up to our mailing list – you can also opt in to be contacted with regards to being Shropshire Distillery gin taster for 2023.
