FANS of Didsbury Gin pour yourself a stiff G&T and settle down in front of the telly at 8pm on Sunday, January 13, as our plucky artisan distillers enter the Dragon’s Den. Well, it is Ginuary after all.
Mark Smallwood and Liam Manton created this local craft gin in 2017 and the tipple has already been hailed by Vogue Magazine as ‘one of the most exciting new British gins’.
Now they have bagged three minutes to pitch their plans for world domination to the BBC Two show’s five resident multi-millionaires to convince them to invest their own cash in the fledgling company.
What a difference a year makes. Construction firm manager Liam and ex-bar manager Markwere spookily both made redundant from their respective jobs at the beginning of 2018 just as the gin business was starting to take off.
Liam said; “It’s been a huge year for us with some monumental highs and lows. We had considered entering Dragons’ Den before but we didn’t think the business was ready yet. Being made redundant was scary at the time but it was just push that we needed to make this gin thing work.”
Mark added; “We have already built a really successful brand and the natural next step for us is investment to scale up quickly and take on the big boys. And because we like to do it in style we thought what better than on the TV, as the opportunity arose just after we’d been made redundant it felt like the timing was just right! Liam’s definitely got the wardrobe for TV after all!”
Scooping the Dragons’ Den dosh would increase the impetus of an operation that has already established a tasty range. Core product Didsbury Gin (ABV 40%) is clean and crisp from its infusion of modern botanicals such as hand peeled fresh citrus, British roots and hand cracked juniper berries. You can buy it online at £17.50.
Off the back of the success of the original flavour the brand has recently introduced Raspberry and Elderflower, a pink gin variation using locally foraged elderflower. They also produced a limited edition Christmas special liqueur, mince pie inspired featuring seasonal spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg an mixed spice.