• MY COUNTRY BUSINESS
Lucy and William Lowe share how they opened their own gin distillery
LUCY AND WILLIAM LOWE, FOUNDERS, CAMBRIDGE DISTILLERY
Grantchester Meadows in Cambridge has a lot to answer for. This pastoral landscape has influenced a wealth of creative luminaries, from the Bloomsbury Group to poet Rupert Brooke, and even Pink Floyd.
‘We think we were the first gin producers to be inspired by all it has to offer though,’ says Lucy Lowe who founded Cambridge
Gin Distillery with her husband William nine years ago. ‘We were walking our labrador Darcy in the meadows near our home, talking over business ideas, and quite literally had a eureka moment when we realised that we were surrounded by the most beautiful, fresh botanicals, which could be used to create something very special.’
That something special turned out to be gin – an obvious choice given William’s formidable knowledge of wine and spirits
(at that time he was working as a leading educator in wine; indeed he is now the world’s first distiller to recently become a master of wine). ‘Not only that, we knew making gin would take up much less time and space than other spirits,’ says Lucy, whose background as a business manager has proved a perfect foil to her husband’s distilling skills. ‘Basically, William does everything inside the bottle and I handle everything on the outside,’ she says.
Their ambition was to create a gin that turned traditional production methods on their head. ‘Most commercial gins are made in huge copper stills and all the dried ingredients are thrown in together, like a big stew,’ says Lucy. ‘Our method is different. Only freshly harvested botanicals are used, and each is distilled individually to capture its essence before being carefully blended by William to achieve a perfect balance.’
Despite the couple’s big ideas, they started small – literally. ‘We used all our savings to set up Cambridge Distillery in our front room,’ she says. ‘In fact, we held the title as the country’s smallest distillery when we launched in 2012. We knew we couldn’t begin to compete with the bigger producers, so we went the other way, making one perfect bottle at a time. We wanted to create a spirit that was perfectly in tune with an individual’s specific tastes and preferences – which is how our Tailored Gin was born. Clients are taken through a flight of blind >
❝ CREATING A TAILORED GIN THAT HAS A REALLY PERSONAL MEANING FOR A CUSTOMER – IT’S A WAY OF CELEBRATING SOMETHING SPECIAL❞
tastings by William so that their palate preferences can be determined, then an individual gin recipe is made to suit them.’
It wasn’t long before word spread, and Selfridges in London invited them to create an exclusive biannual Seasonal Gin. ‘The store even recreated our tiny front room distillery in one of their windows,’ says
Lucy. ‘It was amazing when we stood outside and viewed it!’
By 2014 the couple had given up their full-time jobs to concentrate fully on making groundbreaking gins, and soon the business had outgrown its simple front-room operation. On the day the couple’s daughter Emilia was born in 2016, they got the keys to a former village garage in Grantchester, which was to become their new distillery. Today, the building has a small shopfront, with a busy production operation at the back, while the actual distillery is next door, alongside a showroom.
‘The look and feel of the business is something we carefully considered,’ says Lucy. ‘We wanted to encapsulate where we are in Cambridge – a place of learning and heritage – but nothing too forced. Many of our family heirlooms have found their way here, along with authentic items we’ve picked up or been given over the years.’
Nevertheless in 2018, when the couple also took on the lease of a higgledy-piggledy old shop in the labyrinth of medieval city streets, they decided to enlist the expertise of interior designer Afroditi Krassa. ‘The building was perfect – all wooden panelling, huge fireplaces and creaking staircases – with rooms for masterclasses and events, and Afroditi has really brought our vision to dramatic life,’ says Lucy.
As for so many businesses, 2020 has been challenging. ‘Of course, COVID-19 has had an impact, but we aim to be as agile as possible,’ says Lucy. ‘We increased our online presence and everyone who could work safely after the first lockdown eased did so.’ Lucy has no doubt that, despite everything, the festive season will be as busy as it always is. ‘We usually start planning our campaign as early as spring,’ she says. ‘This year we’re launching our Three Seasons Gin in Selfridges for Christmas, which features rose petals, blackcurrant leaf and lemon verbena, with our biannual Seasonal Gin to follow later.’
Despite now having a team of more than 40 people, an international presence and a wealth of awards, it wasn’t always that way. ‘It all started with just the two of us in this special place,’ says Lucy. ‘We never forget that.’ cambridgedistillery.co.uk