Target reached!
The amount of money raised will directly influence the quality and size of the still...
HedgeCraft Ltd STARTUP distillery. Still needed!
Ditchling, England, United Kingdom
Aim
Using local, natural and foraged ingredients, HedgeCraft Ltd is a startup distillery that aims to do things differently!
A quick update: these are the last days of the last week of the crowdfunder. Thank you very much to all of you who have pledged so far! Please share the link with your friends, relatives, in relevant groups if you can to help us on this final stretch of the journey!
What busy weeks these have been. Two recipes for products finilised, so much more stuff tested (and tasted), things are getting more exciting by the day -- and in this early phase, every penny counts!!!
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Creating delicious stuff, especially of the sort is simply in my nature. Nowadays, you can buy most things in a supermarket. But not everything. For example, I love the taste of fresh, still vigorously fizzing not-quite-yet-wine (Sturm or burčák) but it's not really something you can buy in the UK at all (or import; that stuff is very much alive, makes bottles explode if you tighten the lid and needs to be consumed fresh and locally). I missed it, and one summer, I made some of my own. And then I made my own mead. And cider. And beer. And this year I began making hedge wines, from nettle to gorse, dandelion to elder blossom. It wasn't until recently - and after a lot of feedback from friends - that it occurred to me that this was a skill. Quite a unique one, apparently. I'm an avid forager, I've been interested in herbs and edible wild plants for a long time and I seem to have a real knack for choosing and mixing just the right ones to produce incredible fragrances and flavours.
Members of my family from what back then was Upper Hungary (now Slovakia) have distilled "moonshine", mainly fruit-based (Plum - Slivovice, Apricot - Merunkovice and others) since before the fall of the Austro-Hungarian empire. These fragrant, crisp, neat spirits are still popular in that part of the world and a distinct part of my heritage. And on the list of things that I would like to offer, down the line.
Being a great lover of gin and absinthe as well as pure fruit spirits I have decided to take it up a notch and revive the family tradition of distilling and thus purifying and concentrating the deliciousness and essence of local botanicals - only here in Sussex and in this day and age, I want to do it transparently, as a legitimate local business.
I want HedgeCraft Ltd to stay small and operate with a small copper still so that its products can be handcrafted, seasonal and local. This is where YOU come in. This is the bit I cannot cover from my savings and that I need some help with. Apparently, with over 300 distilleries now running in England, most fundraising attempts to start a new one fail. But I don't aim to simply flood the shelves of supermarkets with yet another gin.
There are generations of tradition, years of experience and months of dedication and passion coming to fruition in the HedgeCraft Ltd project.
I believe I have found a new perspective, a new take on the current "gin craze"; rather than seeking flavours around the world, I want to focus on aromatics sourced here in our village, to use primarily herbs and shrubs native to Sussex, give people a good whiff and taste of the wilderness around them. Help them see and appreciate what treasures hide in hedges, ditches and fields around and help them reconnect with their land. I don't want to supply one gin, all year round, but small amounts, even just single batches made with botanicals that are in season, fresh and at their best at the time of production.
They say a man's love comes from his stomach, well then let my aim be to help people fall in love with the world around them once more!
This project successfully funded on 9th November 2019