Blue Peter host’s spirited performance
IT DOES not take long inside the Our/London premises, tucked away under railway arches at Hackney Downs, to understand what has driven a former presenter to drink. Staff and guests are availing themselves of the mixing talents of a visiting Californian in the bar area adjoining the pristine micro-distillery, which the business partners, Neil Chivers and Clive Watson, believe to be the only dedicated vodka distillery in the capital.
In fairness, sales manager Joel Defries is in more of a Lemsip mood, avoiding alcohol as he tries to shake off a heavy cold. Shepherding me away from the hubbub around the bar — “can we have some quiet for the — we find a more sedate spot near a ping-pong table, at which he admits to spending more than a little time.
Now 31, Defries presented the iconic children’s TV series for three years in his early to mid 20s.
If his journey from broadcasting to vodka sales has been an unusual one, then little in his life has followed a traditional path. His parents are heavily into Indian spirituality and briefly moved the family to India to live in an ashram.
“I’m a ‘HinJew’,” Defries says. “My being Jewish never came up until I was eight. Only last week I saw a swami they wanted me to meet.”
There was another move in his late teens, this time to New Zealand, where his more Jewishly involved paternal grandparents lived. A music fan, he landed a job on a radio station, “having phoned up as this young cocky British guy”. This in turn led to a three-year presenting stint on a New Zealand TV music channel.
The cockiness did not subside. He will be forever on Pink’s blacklist, having asked the singer: “Pink, do you ever feel blue?”. When she suggested that the interview was going downhill, Defries replied: “Like your career.”
But he concedes that “New Zealand taught me so much.” Returning in the UK, he was 22 when a audition came up “out of nowhere. They wanted someone who in their terms was edgier, which meant not edgy in the least.
“Having not worked for a year and then being flown out to Alaska for five weeks was incredible. I thought it was the fast-track way to get famous. But I was the least famous senter of all time.”
One assignment did enable Defries to connect with his Jewishness, as he accompanied Freda Wineman, a Holocaust survivor, to Auschwitz. “It gave me real insight,” he recalls. “She wasn’t angry and she was so inspiring.” For the programme, he also sat in on the Shabbat preparations of Edgware Synagogue’s Rabbi David Lister and attended a batmitzvah. “It was nice to get inside the Jewish community. I’d never really done it.”
Post- he wanted to do other things but nothing came up. “Then I decided I had taken enough from society so it was time to give something back.” Starting at an Elephant and Castle hostel for young people, he went on to work in Haringey, Hackney and Islington with people with drinking problems who were living in temporary accommodation. “TV encourages ego. You Defries and Our/ Vodka: Here’s one they made earlier think you are important when you are not. Working with the homeless taught me otherwise. My dad’s a social worker, so it’s in the blood.”
The vodka promotion job arose through a contact at the London arm of the global venture. Other Our/Vodka sites include Berlin, Amsterdam and Seattle and a New York operation is in the pipeline. “Although we have a big backer [Pernod], we have total autonomy in how to bring the brand to life.” It also appealed to someone who is “not a huge drinker but likes a quality drink. We are winging it,” he concedes. “Every day we are learning more.”
Produced in small batches — 1 , 3 4 4 in each t o b e p r e c i s e — and with a recommended price of £19 for a distinctive 350ml bottle, it has made inroads into the high-end market in its first year. You can find it in Selfridges and Harvey Nichols and Defries’s goal is “to get it into as many places as possible”. “I like meeting people, which is a big aspect of the job,” he adds. “I wake up every day and feel excited about coming into work.” If vodka might not be the most exciting spirit, Defries expects a just-launched range of Our/London infusions (Earl Grey, juniper, oak and citrus) to ramp up interest. The temporary barman certainly mixes a mean cocktail with the new varieties. And though Defries professes not to miss the showbiz world, he does retain one close showbiz friend, singer Jess Glynne. “I’ve known her all my life. I spend every Christmas with her and we always do a bit of karaoke.”
Meeting a Holocaust survivor was so inspiring’