Made in Taranaki: Begin Distilling - a boutique gin distillery in the heart of New Plymouth
Begin Distilling is a new business started up by Jo and Dave James of New Plymouth. They are going to be distilling boutique gin in their small distillery in Westown.
Dave and Jo James have three core business values: make it fun, make it together and make it right.
The Taranaki couple are on the cusp of launching their line of boutique London-style gin, distilled in New Plymouth using ingredients grown and sourced in Taranaki and throughout New Zealand.
Their "make it right" attitude comes from their experience working in the food industry, Dave says. Sustainability is important to both of us and making it right the first time ticks all the boxes, he says.
Copper is a key component of their distilling process and branding for Begin Distilling.
As they first sat down to discuss a new career path, they knew they wanted to have clear values from the outset to make working as a couple feasible and enjoyable, Dave said.
"Make it fun. If you're not enjoying it, if it's not fun then why are you wasting your daylight hours doing it."
"Make it together. Together is always going to be greater than the sum of its parts." Working with our suppliers and the people who will be enjoying our beautiful gin has been an essential ingredient during the development phase, says Jo.
Jo says she's a gin fanatic and believes there is a way to promote responsible drinking when it comes to spirits.
Their bespoke Westown distillery is uncluttered. Against one wall is a whiteboard full of equations, temperatures, percentages and graphs, mapping out the science behind the art.
Opposite the foosball table is a modest white cupboard stacked with plastic lunch boxes holding a range of ingredients which the James's are exploring as they develop their signature flavour. On the bottom shelf, are jars full of clear liquid, each the result of experiments with ingredients like licorice root and cinnamon sticks as they build their knowledge of the flavours they are working with.
And of course standing alone as the centrepiece is a copper still with bags of juniper berries next to it. They were waiting on their custom-made still to be completed.
A smaller version of the copper still Dave and Jo James will use to distilling their Juno Gin.
"Copper is key," Dave says. Without the copper still, the marriage of flavours would be incomplete.
The pair will be the ones who make the product in its entirety, using custom equipment designed with and being built by award-winning Taranaki company Rivet.
They were working with growers around New Zealand to source botanical products.
Dave and Jo James, of Begin Distilling, will operate out of New Plymouth but have suppliers from all over New Zealand.
A grower in Oakura was supplying them with licorice root and angelica. Orris root was coming from growers on the East Coast, coriander was being grown in Canterbury and they were diluting their spirits using fresh rain water from Stratford.
It was important they created a successful business, both for themselves and for the others that feed into their product, Jo says.
And while the pair could probably be described as the two most excited entrepreneurs about town, it's not just them who are invested in Juno Gin's success.
They have received a grant from the Callaghan Institute, the central government's research and development arm and they're also working with a Massey University research group to support the development of botanical suppliers.
Since both Dave and Jo were born in Taranaki it made sense to move back and set up shop under the mountain, she said. Their passion for Taranaki was evident as they described the changes they have seen.
Jo has worked in the public health sector for a decade, including an executive director role with a consortium of drug and alcohol counselling services in Australia.
While alcohol companies often got a bad rap, Jo says they were hoping to promote a different kind of drinking culture by thinking about how spirits are packaged. Their hope is that their products would become the alternative to bringing a bottle of wine around to a friend's house for dinner, Jo says.
They would offer their gin in 200ml and 700ml bottles so if you wanted to have a couple of drinks with friends you can do so with the 200ml Juno, without having to bring around a large bottle of spirits. Enjoying the evening, and avoiding regret, Jo says.
The idea was also to use the 200ml product to take advantage of seasonal flavours so gin aficionados could try something a bit different. "There's endless variety, it's so exciting," Jo says.
She's currently obsessed with bergamot orange, which they happened on by chance from a vacuum cleaner salesman who had a tree growing in his yard, Jo said.
While Jo says she has always had a penchant for gin, Dave says he's "learning to like it".
"The more we're coming up with the flavours, the more I'm learning there's a complexity to it," he says.
With all going to plan, Juno Gin would launch officially in March 2017, firstly with online sales and then they would move into selling the products on retailers' shelves.
- Stuff
