Become a Ginvestor - Help Us To Grow Bullards!

Aim

Bullards craft award-winning gins in the heart of Norwich. We need your help to grow so we can offer more amazing gin products and flavours.

We are a small and passionate team of gin distillers, proud to be making unique, award-winning gin in the heart of Norwich.

Bullards is a name synonymous with the brewing heritage of Norwich. Over the last three years we’ve been working to revive it with the support of John Bullard, great-great-grandson of the original founder. 

In 2015, we established Norwich’s first dedicated gin distillery in more than 150 years, and began developing our debut gin. Since then, we’ve been delighted to have an overwhelming response to our products from gin lovers and industry experts alike - we’ve even won awards for our work, and last year our London Dry Gin was voted the best in the world.

But, we’re struggling to keep up with the demand for our gin. And that’s where you come in.

Currently, we distil all our gin in a 120L still, and we’d like to upgrade this to a 600L still with over quadruple the capacity. This will enable us to make more gin and develop new delicious, innovative flavours for you to enjoy. Four times the equipment means four times the gin! 

Sadly, the size of the new still means we’ll outgrow our current home at The Ten Bells on St Benedicts Street. We’ve been working to acquire a new site in the city, and we’ve found the perfect place: Crystal House on Cattle Market Street in Norwich.

This beautiful, historic Victorian building dates back to 1862 and shares some of its features with the original Crystal Palace built in 1851 for the Great Exhibition. We want to preserve the building's heritage for everyone in Norwich by restoring it to its former industrial use. We'll create not only a home for our new still and a place to bottle our gin, but a new destination for visitors and residents, offering tours, tastings and a shop. Part of our new premises will also offer guests the opportunity to visit a 'ginstronomy' bar and restaurant, which will blend great food with expert mixology.

As well as growing the space we work in, we’re evolving the Bullards brand to better showcase our premium, unique recipes. Working with specialist drinks design agency Stranger & Stranger, we’ve developed a new identity inspired by our Norwich heritage. Our new bespoke bottles are reminiscent of a beer bottle (harking back to Bullards’ brewing history) and the shape of the neck reflects the iconic chimney stack that once graced the original Bullards’ Anchor Brewery on Westwick Street. We’ve got a palette of beautiful, rich new colours for each of the flavours, and all our bottles are festooned with our trademark ‘tipsy anchor’ and metallic copper accents. We hope you’ll love the new look as much as we do!

Finally, to celebrate both looking to our future and acknowledging our wonderful heritage, we’ve developed a new flavour - Old Tom - we've modernised an old style of gin, and the bottle is inspired by the smoky chimney of the old Anchor Brewery. The first bottles of Old Tom (signed and authenticated by our distillers) are available exclusively as a reward to anyone that pledges £50.

We’re proud of Bullards’ roots in Norwich, and we’re passionate about promoting our ‘fine city’. The renovation of Crystal House - which will hold our new distillery - will create jobs and revitalise an important city landmark. We’ll be developing a new destination that will attract visitors to Norwich, as well as offering residents an exciting new experience.

We want to put Norwich on the UK gin map by continuing to develop more innovative gin products. Most of all, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy delicious new flavours.

Our handcrafted gins are all currently distilled in small batches using our unique copper still, which is presently housed at The Ten Bells in Norwich. Our products are stocked in local and national retailers - including Jarrold Department Store, Bakers & Larners, Majestic Wines, Master of Malt and 31DOVER - and also in discerning pubs, bars, restaurants and hotels. 

London Dry Gin 

42.5% ABV

Our take on a traditional London Dry, softened and smoothed out with the light, sweet spice of the tonka bean. Gently-spiced sweetness - hints of cinnamon and cardamom throughout, with a dry juniper core. Flavours of smooth dry marmalade and a lasting tonka bean finish. Delicious and easy drinking when straight, smooth and citrusy when mixed. Mix with standard Indian tonic water or an aromatic tonic garnished with plenty of ice and dried or dehydrated orange slices.

Strawberry and Black Pepper Gin 

ABV 40%

Very fruity: sweet strawberries on the nose, with a faint tickle of black pepper. Peppery and warming to taste, with a fresh strawberry sweetness rounding off the spirit. Designed and distilled to be a flavoured gin that doesn't compromise on the core gin flavour. Mixed with tonic or ice, the strawberry comes alive and scales up the fruit flavours, creating a very fruity, easy-going and enjoyable gin. Mix with standard Indian tonic water, or elderflower tonic to make it slightly sweeter and garnish with fresh strawberries and mint. Lemonade works well as a substitute for those who don't like tonic, or even prosecco with a strawberry garnish.

Old Tom Gin

ABV 42.5%

Hints of Norfolk honey and pink pepper on the nose. Rich mouthfeel thanks to the honey, with pink pepper adding a spicy complexity and plenty of smooth mango softness at its core. Fresh grapefruit peel lends the gin its traditional dryness while Norfolk honey and sweet vanilla linger long after the finish. Lemon, grapefruit and honey shine when mixed. Mix with standard Indian tonic water or elderflower tonic, and garnish with grapefruit peel, lemon peel or honeycomb and vanilla.

We're very proud to have won and been shortlisted for several awards over the last three years, including winning 'Best London Dry Gin' at the 2017 World Gin Awards. Our other accolades include:

• Winners of ‘Best Micro Distillery’ 2016 and 2017 at the Gin Masters awards
• Winners of two awards from the International Wine and Spirit Competition (IWSC)
• The only gin distillery in Norfolk to win two Great Taste awards

We’re delighted to have recently teamed up with Norwich City Football Club to be their official gin partner for the next three years, which means our gin will be the only one stocked in the stadium’s bars, corporate areas and restaurants. We’re thrilled that Norwich City want to support local brands, and that they’ve helped us out with some fantastic rewards.

Whether you’re a gin aficionado or looking to invest in a slice of Norwich heritage, we’ve got a great pledge reward to suit you.

As a thank you for your support, you’ll be able to pick from rewards that include:

• Bottles of Bullards gin at a special pre-launch price.
• The very first signed and authenticated bottles of our new gin, Old Tom. 
• An opportunity to create and bottle your own personalised gin.
• The chance to be among the first to visit our new destination distillery.
• Lunch in the Norwich City Football Club players' canteen and an exclusive tour of the training ground.
• Limited edition gin goodies including hampers, gin glasses, t-shirts and sweatshirts (pictured below):

This project successfully funded on 10th December 2018