A distillery that stepped in and started making hands sanitisers when Covid-19 hit is marking its first anniversary.
Bond Street Distillery in Hinckley, Leicestershire, started production a year ago with a 700 litre copper still making its Hinckley Number One gin.
It is marking the birthday by producing an anniversary version of the gin in a limited edition bottle.
The business also makes a navy strength, blood orange, rhubarb and custard, raspberry, and a signature London dry gin.
Owner and distiller Sally Faulkner said the team was putting the birthday celebrations on hold until after lockdown, but were looking forward to things getting back to normal as soon as possible.
She said: “It’s such a fantastic achievement to reach this milestone, especially when you consider the year that we have all had.
“It’s sad that we are in lockdown and so we are unable to celebrate with all of the staff and our lovely customers.”
The last 12 months have seen the business open the distillery in a three-floor red brick former hosiery factory, followed by a ground floor bar and gin school.
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When the crisis hit, Bond Street started producing hand sanitiser almost immediately as supplies in the shops started out, with shipments going out to the community, NHS and vital services.
The proceeds allowed them to continue to produce gin and even the launch of a “Crisis Cocktail” menu, with a local delivery service and on-line music gigs bringing drinkers together.
The Crisis Cocktails includes mixes called The Hinckley Lady, Lockdown Lemonade, and the Edward Collins, named after Bond Street’s head distiller. There are also more traditional cocktails, with double portions retailing from just over £10.
Sally said: “Obviously as a new business the first lockdown could have been disastrous for us.
“However the team and I put our heads together and diversified straight away.
“The success of Crisis Cocktails was down to bringing a community together at the weekend online, we had people from all over the world joining us online enjoying cocktails, listening to local musicians and chatting online.
“People felt like they were also supporting us, they got dressed up on their doorsteps, they had socially distanced parties and we genuinely felt like they were having good fun and literally keeping their spirits up.”
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The gin making process
- 200 litres of ethanol, at 95 per cent alcohol, and 200 litres of water are poured into the pot still, along with the botanicals (These were the volumes for the first batch at Bond Street Distillery, although their Holstein still can be filled up to 700 litres)
- The mix is heated to the boiling point of ethanol, at around 80C
- Vapour from the mix moves into the bottom of a copper chamber, which it rises through and is purified. Sulphites react with the copper and are removed, taking away any biting flavours
- The purified vapour moves into a condensing chamber, where a stream of cold water cools it into a liquid
- The neat spirit flows down and is collected in containers at the bottom, coming out at about 85 per cent alcohol initially, which reduces to about 50 per cent as the ethanol is used up
- Distillers mix the spirit with purified water to bring the alcohol content down before it is bottled
During lockdown the distillery has also won three awards – a Gin Guide award for best London dry and best traditional gin, as well as a Prestige award for central England distillery of the year.
Sally said: “To have achieved so much as a fledgling distillery is really special, in many ways it has been an exceptional year for us.
“We have had an overwhelming amount of support locally from the start, our gin is being recognised around the world and when we are open our bars are full.
“We are looking forward to celebrating a healthier and happier 2021 but until we can, we will just enjoy this moment”.