Gin gem’s a real tonic
PREMIUM craft gin brand Warner’s, whose popping natural flavours ensure sales of the spirit stay in the pink, is boosting its range with an alcohol-free option, virtual tastings and a launch in the US.
Set up in 2012 by drinks business newbies Tom and Tina Warner on their cattle farm in Northamptonshire, the distillery has spearheaded the country’s artisan gin revolution and played a key role in the spirit’s renaissance which saw 83 million bottles worth £2.6 billion sold in the UK last year.
Warner’s was born out of the couple, both from farming stock, looking to diversify and use the natural bounty they had to best advantage for themselves, local people and the environment.
Their efforts have built a business with 53 rural jobs – around 50 per cent of its workforce is female – that turned over £10 million last year and is recognised as a standard bearer for authenticity, sustainability and quality.
Many of the flagship botanicals, such as elderflower and lemon balm used to create Warner’s array of intriguing flavours, are grown in its gardens. Pollinated by bees from hundreds of hives – the fresh honey produced makes its honeybee gin – while water comes from a home-sourced spring.
“We are both old guard and pioneering,” says Tom. “Warner’s is one of the few craft producers that has scaled and kept its roots. Limited resources meant we had to be relentless, be at every show possible to get the listings.”
Among the award-winning nine gins, produced by slow still and small batch methods to achieve maximum flavour, are the now legendary world’s first rose-tinted rhubarb gin – a third of it pure juice, an aromatic raspberry and a London dry classic.
Achieving an instant pedigree when stocked early on by luxury retailer Fortnum & Mason,Warner’s is now on the shelves of Waitrose and M&S as well as a host of independent shops and bars. The gins are exported to 23 countries, most recently Australia, and a US wholesale deal is set for autumn.
However aware of the increasingly crowded UK gin market, the company was already looking at new avenues before Covid-19 struck.
“It has had a harsh effect on small producers because of their size. Our online retail sales are up but it does not compensate for the trade loss,” says Tom. “Opening the bars and reducing social distancing to a metre will be a big help.”
The company’s Step Outside virtual package with five gins and paired mixers, tutored tastings and a behindthe-scenes tour (£40) of its Falls Farm has just made its debut.
Warner’s first adventure into nonalcoholic spirit drinks will be unveiled in a few weeks’ time.
“It was being outsiders and innovation that took us into the big time and go toe-to-toe with industry giants,” says Tom, “and that will be what keeps us there.”