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Community Spirits – Balearic & Brindle
Hello, Fans of Cuckoo Gin,
I hope this blog finds you all doing well, keeping healthy and hopefully back to some sort of normality. It has been a while since I wrote a blog, so I thought it best I put pen to paper. I come to you from my gaff, I am currently having to quarantine till next week as I am just back from celebrating my 30th birthday with friends on the beautiful island of Ibiza. Weather was amazing! Great food and even better company, it was a great way to bring in my 30th year. Add to this, it is pretty much normal life out there. A silly rule from BoJo, as next to no one on Ibiza has Covid19, but there you go. I do not make the rules, although, I do sometimes think I am more qualified to do so!
So, what has been going on? The distillery has been open to the public now since the 4th July. So much has changed in terms of how we operate our hospitality side of the business. It has been a learning curve for us to make sure we are putting all measures in place to keep everyone safe. I think though, that we nailed it. If you have visited us since the 4th July, you will see what we have done. Plenty of space between tables, one-way system, entrance and exit, track and trace, sanitizer coming out of our ears!
We adapted the room into a pop-up restaurant too. With the help of our beloved Maria, her amazing recipes and food, we were able to create Supperclubs with up to 70 people safely enjoying the atmosphere of the distillery and some bloody good scran. These nights have really helped towards the adaptation of our brand. When you cannot travel the country selling gin to folk, you have got to bring them into your house. The support we have had since reopening has been amazing. We are not surprised though. Just like when we were in proper lockdown and you were buying your gins, rums, candles, and glasses to enjoy at home, you stuck by us and we cannot thank you enough!
We were also able to have another crack at our Coffee Stop. The coffee machine got full use during lockdown but not by any paying customers, by us in the distillery skulling coffee all day! As the restrictions relaxed, we welcomed people back in. We are not a coffee shop. There is no mundane music, no chai lattes, no pumpkin spiced macchiato with a cherry on top. We are better than that. This is still a working distillery with noises, smells and always plenty going on. Add to this some extraordinarily good cakes from Brinscall Baker. I cannot begin to tell you how good these baked goods are. Not good though when you’re going on holiday and you’re picking away at lemon and poppy seed cake with cream on top (just one of many varieties we offer). Be reyt wont it. We are proud to support another local business and by doing so, putting back into our local economy which is vitally important.
Our Tours and Workshops were able to continue also. Plenty of dates to choose from now and you will not be disappointed if you book on. Just check out the reviews! We would normally make up our own little cheese and meat boards for the attendees, but we came across a lovely little company which we just had to use. Createbox, which can be found on Instagram @mycreatebox, put together bespoke grazing boxes and let me tell you, they are sublime! Sweet or savoury, I don’t mind telling you they are to die for. Again, we are massively proud to support another local business to us.
As it stands, the news is reporting that Lancashire may have stricter lockdown rules enforced within the next few days. We are hoping it doesn’t affect us too much and we can continue as we are for the time being. We will keep an eye out anyway and whatever happens we will adapt just as we have done throughout all this which we couldn’t have done without all your support. So, thank you!
Anyhow, it’ll be Christmas soon, can you believe that?
That’s me for another month or so. Take care of yourselves and don’t let the b*stards get you down. Tom x
