FDBusiness.com

Leading international spirits company, UK-based Quintessential Brands, has expanded its first-class operations at the multi-award-winning G&J Distillers in Warrington to include a new production line for 20cl miniature bottles, as demand for ‘minis’ grows around the world. The site produces up to 160,000 bottles of gin each day.

The new miniature bottles production line has the capability to produce 200,000 units (20cl bottles) per week, enabling G&J Distillers to capitalise on the buoyant market for miniature bottles of spirits, which is growing ahead of the total spirits category at 31% year on year,[1] as consumers increasingly take advantage of the affordability of miniatures to try out new products.

The introduction of the miniature bottles production line by Quintessential Brands – current holder and four-time winner of the International Spirits Challenge Gin Producer of the Year award – is expected to further boost the company’s impressive domestic and global export sales for its popular gin brands, which include BLOOM, Opihr, Thomas Dakin and Berkeley Square, as well as G&J Distillers’ flagship brand, Greenall’s, which has been handcrafted in Warrington since 1761.

In addition to producing miniature bottles of its premium gin brands, Quintessential Brands will also bottle its award-winning Irish whiskies – including The Dubliner, the Dublin Liberties and The Dead Rabbit Irish Whiskey – on the new miniatures line, as well as miniatures for other brand owners and retailers, for whom the company produces a variety of private and own label spirits brands, through its successful commercial products arm, Quintessential Brands Spirits Solutions.

Warren Scott, CEO and Co-Founder of Quintessential Brands, says: “The miniatures market presents significant opportunity for the spirits industry, and as the world’s foremost gin distillers, we are proud that G&J Distillers is right at the forefront of this trend.”

He adds: “With over 250 years of gin distilling heritage, G&J Distillers is a true icon of the spirits industry and we’re committed to ensuring it remains that way in the future. With production at G&J Distillers increasing as miniatures orders come in and the popularity of gin continues to grow, we will soon be starting a new recruitment drive, bringing a further economic boost to Warrington in the year ahead, so there are exciting times ahead in 2019 for G&J Distillers and for Warrington.”

The new miniatures line is expected to see G&J Distillers continue to be a driving force for the global growth of gin, which grew 173% worldwide in the last year[2] and which reached £2.2 billion in sales in the UK alone last year.[3] It was a particularly positive year for G&J Distillers’ flagship brand, Greenall’s, achieving its biggest-ever sales success, selling over 400,000 9 litre cases in a year for the first time ever.

G&J Distillers has been part of the Quintessential Brands Group since 2011 and has over 250 years of heritage, dating back to 1761. Quintessential Brands Group owns world-class manufacturing facilities across Europe including L&L in France, a leading manufacturer of fruit spirits and liqueurs, First Ireland Spirits and the Dublin Liberties Distillery, which is part owned by Stock Spirits.

[1] IWSR 2017

[2] IWSR 2017

[3] WSTA report, December 2018

CAPTION:

Helen Jones, MP for Warrington North, and Warren Scott, CEO and Co-Founder of Quintessential Brands.