Working through the detail
As with a lot of things, the devil is in the detail. The last month or so has definitely been a time of working through lots and lots and lots of it!
Product refinement and production
As we mentioned in an earlier blog post we invested a great deal of time getting feedback from a wide range of people - friends, potential customers, and potential stockists. All with the focus on making sure our Juneberry Gin is just right.
So with a winning botanical mix agreed amongst the Hussingtree Gin Team, we've been setting about testing it through further test runs on our table top still and the final production run still we're using. Through ironing out all the nuances of production, final botanical quantities and the like we were thrilled to finalise everything before first production...which happened last week! Watch out for a new blog post in the near future where we'll be celebrating having out bottled product ready to go!
Visual branding
From the outset we've been keen to create a visual brand style that is clean and contemporary.
Having looked at hundreds of spirit bottles, we've often been overwhelmed by the level of intricacy and elaboration involved in a significant percentage of bottle labels. Following that route didn't feel right for us. In addition, we know just how important visual stand out and clarity is. Whether the bottle is on a shelf in a bar or a shop, our aim has been to create a design that catches the eye and can become quickly and easily memorable.
The Hussingtree 'H' has subsequently become our core visual signifier. With the unique typography of the H and graphical style of the holding circle, it's equally at home on the bottle label as it is on social media, web, promotional material, etc.
Spreading the word
Whilst we've been building up to launch we've started to slowly get the word out that Hussingtree Gin is coming. Social media is a great platform for such things and we've been thrilled with some initial contacts we've made with Worcestershire businesses. Some showing interest in stocking Hussingtree Gin, others being potential partners that we can work together with in delivering exciting things across the county.
Forthcoming events
On the back of our initial low-key marketing groundwork, we've been thrilled to have a few events lined up for the next few weeks.
Wednesday Club Networking; Elaine will be attending the networking event, chatting with members about our exciting journey so far and providing the opportunity for those attending to try our Juneberry Gin. More details about the event are available here.
Worcestershire Sauceee Women Calendar Girls Charity Shoot; Elaine will be setting up our G&T tent on 1st July 2018, to serve cool Juneberry gin and tonics to all the ladies taking part in this wonderful charitable event. Read more here.
Pershore Plum Festival; we'll have a stall at the Festival over the August Bank Holiday weekend. In addition, we're expecting to be in the Plum Alley event area on each Saturday during August.
Hush hush event; we were thrilled to be invited to provide an exclusive Hussingtree Gin Bar at a prestigious local event in the middle of August. Unfortunately we can't divulge the detail at the moment as we're currently putting plans into place. But we're incredibly excited and will share the details across various forms of communication in a few weeks time.
We anticipate attending a few more events over the summer, as part of our launch. If you'd like to have Hussingtree Gin at your event, don't hesitate to get in touch.
Juneberry Gin samples
In support of our soft launch, we've been bottling up a set of samples of our first production run of Juneberry Gin. The first few have gone out, so we'll be looking forward to receiving their feedback in due course. We'll also be hitting the streets of Worcester, taking samples into a number of bars, restaurants and hotels giving them the first opportunity to stock Hussingtree Gin in July.
Incredibly exciting times ahead...