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Gloucestershire Business News

Expansion plan is just the tonic for family-run drinks business

A distillery run by four enterprising siblings aged under 25 has moved into its first dedicated premises to meet rising demand.

Sibling Distillery produces 1,600 bottles of Sibling Gin per month at a new distillery in Dowdeswell Park, Charlton Kings.

Run by Clarice Elliott-Berry, 23, and her siblings Cicely, 21, Felix, 25, and Digby, 17, it is set to triple production by the end of 2017.

The foursome began producing Sibling Gin from a makeshift corner of their dad's brewery in Keynsham Road, Cheltenham in 2014.

They believe they were the youngest distilling team in the world.

Sales took off and within a year they knew they had to move.

Director Clarice said the new premises open the door to expansion on many fronts.

"Our old place was tiny," she said. "We'd reached the stage where we were always on top of each other. Not only were we tearing our hair out, we couldn't match demand.

"We had two fermenting tanks which allowed us to make just one batch of gin every 10 days. We needed at least four tanks, a new boiler and an extra still.

"At Dowdeswell Park there's loads of space. We already have two new fermenting tanks. Our office has moved from the kitchen table to a proper room with desks and chairs.

"We've got a tasting room, a kitchen and a little shop. We can host tastings and tours."

With no cash reserves, they went to crowdfunder.co.uk to finance the move.

Their enterprise led to an invitation to do a 'Dragon's Den' style pitch to five angel investors in front of an audience.

"It was pretty scary but we gave it our all and out of the five crowdfunder companies there, we won the Best Angel Pitch," said Clarice.

"We decided not to progress with the angels, but we did hit our £15,000 crowdfunding target."

The four directors are all former pupils of Balcarras School in Charlton Kings.

Output in their first year of operation was 400 bottles per month. Last year their turnover hit £300,000.

With several awards already under their belt, they are one of the few companies to distil their gin from start to finish and manufacture their alcohol from scratch.

Picture: left to right, Clarice Elliott-Berry with Felix, Digby and Cicely

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