Distillery launches at Nethergate Brewery in Long Melford as business bounces back from Covid challenges
The launch of a new distillery to partner a long-running Suffolk brewery has been heralded as a defiant expansion of the business, in the face of the challenges of coronavirus.
Nethergate Distillery – a sister branch of Nethergate Brewery in Long Melford – officially launched on Wednesday, with the release of its inaugural product, Melford’s Gin.
Supported by grant funding from the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership, the new venture draws upon water extracted from drilling into the local water bed to produce the premium craft gin.
There are also plans to produce additional spirits at the distillery, based alongside the brewery in Rodbridge Corner, in the future.
Ian Carson, head brewer at Nethergate, told Suffolk News: “It’s something that we’ve always wanted to do.
“We’ve been gearing up for a little while and we got some lovely grants during lockdown, which were very helpful. That put all the thoughts about making gin into action.”
The opening was marked with a launch party yesterday afternoon, including a gin sampling and distillery tour.
Operating since 1986, Nethergate described the expansion as a huge undertaking that required a lot of perseverance through the Covid-19 crisis and its impact on the brewing and hospitality industry.
At the height of the pandemic, the brewery had furloughed 80 per cent of staff and relied on a click-and-collect service to sell its stock.
“It was tough,” said Mr Carson. “It has been tough for a lot of people and the hospitality industry was hit quite badly as well.
“We were very lucky, because we had a warehouse full of beer and didn’t have to throw anything away. We did click and collect to start with, and we knocked it down to £1 a pint, and managed to shift it all.
“We’re now back at about 80 per cent of what we were doing in terms of sales. We’re doing a lot more on site, our bar has really taken off and our little shop is doing great.”
To find out more about Nethergate, click here.
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