Leading international spirits company, Quintessential Brands, has expanded its first-class operations at the multi-award-winning G&J Distillers in Warrington to include a new production line for 5cl miniature bottles, as demand for ‘minis’ grows around the world.
The first run of the new production line was officially started by the local Member of Parliament for Warrington North, Helen Jones, who visited the world-renowned distillery in Birchwood last month, meeting Quintessential Brands Co-Founder and CEO, Warren Scott, and many long-serving, local G&J Distillers employees, including Liquid Production Manager, Dermot Hegarty, and Manufacturing Manager, Mark Barlow, for a tour of the site’s Still House and Bottling Hall, where up to 160,000 bottles of gin are produced each day.
The new miniature bottles production line has the capability to produce 200,000 units (5cl bottles) per week, enabling G&J Distillers to capitalise on the buoyant market for miniature bottles of spirits, which is growing ahead of the total spirits category at 31% year on year,[1] as consumers increasingly take advantage of the affordability of miniatures to try out new products.
The introduction of the miniature bottles production line by Quintessential Brands – current holder and four-time winner of the International Spirits Challenge Gin Producer of the Year award – is expected to further boost the company’s impressive domestic and global export sales for its popular gin brands, which include BLOOM, Opihr, Thomas Dakin and Berkeley Square, as well as G&J Distillers’ flagship brand, Greenall’s, which has been handcrafted in Warrington since 1761.
In addition to producing miniature bottles of its premium gin brands, Quintessential Brands will also bottle its award-winning Irish whiskies – including The Dubliner, the Dublin Liberties and The Dead Rabbit Irish Whiskey – on the new miniatures line, as well as miniatures for other brand owners and retailers, for whom the company produces a variety of private and own label spirits brands, through its successful commercial products arm, Quintessential Brands Spirits Solutions.
Warren Scott, CEO and Co-Founder of Quintessential Brands stated: “The miniatures market presents significant opportunity for the spirits industry, and as the world’s foremost gin distillers, we are proud that G&J Distillers is right at the forefront of this trend. We are very grateful to Helen Jones MP for attending the distillery to open the new production line; it was a pleasure for us to show her around the site and it gave all of us a sense of enormous pride to show her just what a great asset G&J Distillers is, both to the local economy, and the wider UK economy, as we continue to drive the popularity of gin at home and around the world.
With over 250 years of gin distilling heritage, G&J Distillers is a true icon of the spirits industry and we’re committed to ensuring it remains that way in the future. With production at G&J Distillers increasing as miniatures orders come in and the popularity of gin continues to grow, we will soon be starting a new recruitment drive, bringing a further economic boost to Warrington in the year ahead, so there are exciting times ahead in 2019 for G&J Distillers and for Warrington.”
Helen Jones, MP for Warrington North, commented: “Quintessential Brands’ investment in G&J Distillers is a great boost for Warrington, and reinforces the importance of G&J Distillers in the local community and to the local economy. The people of Warrington are proud of the town’s great gin heritage and its reassuring to see the company’s commitment to protecting this heritage.
It was fascinating to visit the distillery for the first time and I enjoyed seeing the first miniature bottles of Greenall’s going down the line, destined for global distribution. I was delighted to be able to join the Quintessential Brands team at G&J Distillers to mark this special milestone on behalf of the local community and I look forward to seeing the company’s continued success.”
The new miniatures line is expected to see G&J Distillers continue to be a driving force for the global growth of gin, which grew 173% worldwide in the last year[2] and which reached £2.2 billion in sales in the UK alone last year.[3] It was a particularly positive year for G&J Distillers’ flagship brand, Greenall’s, achieving its biggest-ever sales success, selling over 400,000 9 litre cases in a year for the first time ever.
G&J Distillers has been part of the Quintessential Brands Group since 2011 and has over 250 years of heritage, dating back to 1761. Its distilling expertise and unwavering commitment to producing innovative products of the highest quality has helped to establish G&J Distillers’ reputation as the world’s foremost gin distillers, supplying many of the world’s leading retailers in the UK and internationally. In the last year, G&J Distillers exported over 30m bottles of gin, consisting of the company’s premium gin brands and also third-party bottlings from its contract manufacturing business arm, which is up 62% year on year as the gin boom continues.
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[1] IWSR 2017
[2] IWSR 2017
[3] WSTA report, December 2018
For more information, please contact the communications team at Quintessential Brands by e-mail: [email protected]
ABOUT QUINTESSENTIAL BRANDS GROUP
Quintessential Brands is an award-winning international spirits company, dedicated to distilling and crafting the world’s best alcohol brands for consumers and customers globally. Pioneering spirits of the industry, inspired since 1761 by their founder, Thomas Dakin, Quintessential Brands Group delivers a diverse portfolio of award-winning, best-selling spirits with unrivalled heritage and craftsmanship.
Founded in 2011 by Enzo Visone, former CEO of Gruppo Campari, and entrepreneur, Warren Scott, Quintessential Brands Group owns world-class manufacturing facilities across Europe, including G&J Distillers, the world’s oldest continuous gin distillers, in Cheshire, UK; L&L in France, a leading manufacturer of fruit spirits and liqueurs; Irish Cream artisan producers, First Ireland Spirits; and the Dublin Liberties Distillery, which opened in 2019. Renowned for its white spirits expertise at G&J Distillers, Quintessential Brands has won International Spirit Challenge Gin Producer of the Year three times and is fast winning a reputation as one of the most exciting new Irish whiskey producers to emerge on the scene.
Quintessential Brands’ award-winning premium brands portfolio includes Greenall’s The Original Handcrafted Gin, BLOOM London Dry Gin, Thomas Dakin Small Batch Gin, Berkeley Square London Dry Gin, and Opihr Gin. Its Irish brands include The Dubliner Irish Whiskey, The Dublin Liberties Irish Whiskey, The Dead Rabbit Irish Whiskey, Feeney’s Irish Cream Liqueur and O’Mara’s Irish Country Cream. iqueurs in the portfolio include Alizé and Toussaint Coffee Rum Liqueur. The company is also a leader in contract bottling and own label & private label spirits, working with retail partners across the world to provide spirits solutions of unrivalled quality.
quintessentialbrands.com
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