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Badachro Distillery - The Spirit of Adventure





Badachro Distillery.
Badachro Distillery.

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Written by Gordon Quinn, managing director of Badachro Distillery

The adventure that started with a jokey comment over drinks whilst on holiday in the sun in 2016, has led this couple on a rollercoaster of a journey, far beyond anything they had vaguely expected.

They had been enjoying a well-earned break after a busy summer season running their bed and breakfast business at Aird Hill in Badachro, Wester Ross.

Previously, in 2007, they had escaped from the "rat race" and expat life, and settled in Badachro, with the intention of enjoying a slower pace of life. Oh, really?!

After much discussion, internet and book research, experimenting, formal training and some work experience, Gordon and Vanessa Quinn started Badachro Distillery in early 2017 as a very small micro-distillery, producing one product, Badachro Gin, in one bottle size with the clear intention of keeping it that way.

Once all the licenses, HMRC and other approvals had been secured, recipes tested, equipment and materials procured and production tested, sales to B&B guests and the local pub began. It was an immensely proud day when the first bottle was exchanged for real money!

Word spread quickly and locals and visitors alike seemed to enjoy the gin. Within a few months, orders were coming in from up and down the west coast and then from all around the NC500.

Hotels, pubs, restaurants, and off-license shops across the Highlands were selling Badachro Gin by next spring, when an importer in Germany got in touch (he’d been on holiday near Gairloch) and exports to Germany followed. Then a distributor in London got in touch and a deal was done. So it went, and although the couple were still foraging for most of the botanicals themselves (as they still do) and did all of the distilling, bottling and labelling themselves, some help from fellow Badachro villagers was necessary and some part-time jobs created. As soon as the website went live, i started to generate orders from near and far. Space had always been a challenge and the tiny distillery was extended to make more space for another still and room for storage and bottling.

Badachro Distillery.
Badachro Distillery.

The "office" had been a laptop on the kitchen table but one of the B&B rooms was eventually occupied as a store, packing room and office.

As to who or what was in control for the last two years, it has been questionable at times. The product range has expanded to include three gins, two fruit gins, single malt whisky and, most recently, The Dancing Puffin Vodka, which have all come into being through either demand or opportunity. A delicious seasonal and very limited release of Sloe Gin is to be released on their website this week.

Export markets have grown to include Germany, Malta, Austria, Denmark and Bermuda and the production of several private label spirits has opened doors to new markets. Two permanent, full time jobs have been created to manage the growth in sales and production and Gordon is happy at last, having been able to justify the purchase of a fork-lift truck!

"If, a few years back, someone had told us that we’d be running our own distillery in Badachro, we’d have laughed out loud," stated Gordon. "But we love the focus on provenance and artisan distilling methods, of creating something out of the natural assets of our precious, local

environment.

There really is nothing we’d rather be doing and nowhere we’d rather be doing it!"

Visit the Badachro Distillery website here.

Badachro Distillery.
Badachro Distillery.

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