Awards keep rolling in for 137
A NEWBURY gin distillery is celebrating after picking up four prizes at the World Gin Awards.
The 137 Gin Distillery, which is run out of the old smoking yard of The Newbury pub in Bartholomew Street, collected one silver and three bronze awards to add to its evergrowing collection.
The creative force behind the hand-crafted 137 Gin, called Lumber’s Bartholomew, is entrepreneur and publican at The Newbury, Pete Lumber. What started out as an idea after a lunch meeting with a friend at the tail-end of 2017 has became an incredible local success story. As well as winning 40 awards internationally, 137 Gin is now being sold in Harrods, as well as in a number of five-star hotels and restaurants across the UK. At the World Gin Awards, which were hosted virtually last week, 137’s Berkshire Dry took the bronze award in the national best classic gin category. Meanwhile, its popular Country Garden gin picked up silver in the national best contemporary style gin category.
Finally, 137’s Navy Royal and Navy Strength both took bronze in the category for England’s best Navy Gin.
West Berkshire Brewery’s Dragon Hill gin, which is produced by award-winning Compton-based Hawkridge Distillery, also picked up silver in the same category.
Speaking to the Newbury Weekly News on Tuesday, Mr Lumber said: “It is great to carry on getting recognised and I think it’s a testament to the quality of the gin that we produce.
“The awards are coming in thick and fast – that’s 40 in two years now which is a fantastic achievement for us. We are absolutely delighted.” Mr Lumber oversees the whole creative process himself – which involves getting in between 3am and 4.30am every day to start distilling.
Once distilled, Mr Lumber then individually bottles, dates and signs each one.
The name 137 comes from The Newbury’s address at 137 Bartholomew Street.
1, 3 and 7 also add up to 11, the number of botanicals Mr Lumber uses in every single gin he distills.
To find out more about Lumber's 137 Bartholomew Gin, visit www.137gin.com
NEWBURY Cancer Care has bid farewell to one of its volunteers – with a sociallydistanced presentation in a hospital car park.
Alan Bryant, who resigned on February 23, joined the organisation in 2014 and helped set up the charity’s transport scheme.
Alongside Angela Hamideh, he helped organise a Cancer Care scheme providing volunteer drivers for people travelling to hospital appointments.
A spokesperson for the charity said: “Alan has decided it’s time to retire, although he still intends to be active in volunteering with the National Trust and getting back to his hobby of swimming when the pools re-open.
“Alan’s leaving was necessarily low key due to the lockdown.
“His colleague and fellow transport co-ordinator, Angela Hamideh and director of operations, Helen Milroy, made a presentation to Alan in the WBCH car park of gifts of an engraved crystal clock, a cheque and a picture frame of the many comments of appreciation from our volunteer drivers and the team at Newbury Cancer Care.
“We’ll miss you Alan – thank you for all you’ve done for our community. Enjoy your retirement.”