An Angus gin firm is to be stocked in America after agreeing a deal with one of the country’s largest alcohol chains.
Kirriemuir-based Gin Bothy has a retail chain lined up in the state of Texas after impressing buyers with its ‘gunshot’ gin.
The unnamed America retailer has more than 50 sites in Texas, which Gin Bothy founder Kim Cameron describes as a “significant opportunity”.
“We took part in a showcase food and drink event with Scottish Development International where we pitched to 150 worldwide buyers,” she said.
“This American firm was really the only company I wanted and it was the only time they were going to be in Scotland. They picked two gins out of 47 and we were one of them.
“We will launch with them in May next year and at the moment we are redoing our labels for the US market and getting approvals in place.
“It’s a significant opportunity for Gin Bothy which doesn’t compromise our hand bottling, hand batching and hand pouring.”
The gunshot flavour of gin is infused with cinnamon, cloves and mixed spices.
Gin Bothy has doubled its workforce to 10 this year and will produce around 60,000 bottles of gin in 2019.
Ms Cameron said it had been a transformational year for the business, with the Bothy Experience – which offers gin tasting events at the old Angus Folk Museum building at Glamis – proving popular.
She said the firm was well positioned for strong growth in 2020.
“The Bothy Experience in Glamis has given us a home and it means we have diversified from a product brand to an experience brand,” she added.
“This year we haven’t seen growth at the same rate as our first four years.
“We’ve had to put the infrastructure in in terms of staff, equipment and IT to grow in the future.
“We’ve got the building blocks in place to double with the same infrastructure.”
Ms Cameron said having her gins on supermarket shelves didn’t appeal to her.
“There are huge pressures for us to move into supermarkets but it doesn’t sit with our brand,” she said.
“We want to stay a premium product and don’t want to lose our loyal customers at farm shops and farmers markets.
“We don’t have an English distributor we just didn’t get round to that this year. Online is a big area of growth as well as attending events. We’ve done 116 retail shows this year, promoting the brand and promoting Angus.”
rmclaren@thecourier.co.uk