Gee Gee Distillery

Aim

We are aiming to open a new Gin Distillery within Newbury using locally sourced ingredients and collaborating with other local businesses.

So the history of Gee Gee Gin .... Founded by Sarah and Jason James in 2020 during lockdown.  We were running a local pub in Newbury and, as every other pub in the country, we were told to close our doors and our livelihood by the Government.  Still needing to earn a living (we weren't eligible for any grants) Gee Gee Gin was borne. 

We purchased a still and began a lot of online courses and YouTube watching.  With a lot of practising we came up with a product that was ready for testing.  As we were still in lock down we put our new gin creation into 50ml taster bottles and messaged all our pub customers that if they were interested please pop along and collect a sample - socially distanced.  The feedback was amazing so we then started the process of getting licensed and legal - Gee Gee Distillery was now Newbury's newest gin distillery.

Fast forward to July 2022 - we handed the keys for the pub back to the PubCo and jumped feet first into the world of Gin Distilling full time.  2023 we were awarded our first (hopefully of many) award - we were awarded a Silver at the London Spirit Competition. This was huge for us and I (Sarah) cried for two days - we couldn't believe that our tiny little distillery was awarded this prestigious award within the gin community.

Since 2022 we have traded the length and breadth of the country at Country Shows, Food and Drink Festivals, Gin Festivals, Farmers Markets, Local Markets and many large events like Badminton Horse Trials, The London International Horse Show, BBC Good Food Show and many many other events.  We have met some amazing, inspirational people during our journey and it has been an amazing 18 months but we are now outgrowing our space and need to move to bigger premises and purchase a bigger still.

2024 is the year of Gee Gee Gin and Vodka - we are adding new flavours to our range, we will be redesigning our labels and changing our bottles.  Also this year we are looking to collaborate with other local businesses either using their ingredients, materials or knowledge as we firmly believe that small businesses keep Britain turning.

Below are some photos from events we've attended and people we have met.

This project successfully funded on 6th February 2024