Ruddington based artisan gin maker, The Ruddy Fine Distillery, has been shortlisted amongst major drink brands for its locally foraged ‘Lockdown Gin’ at The Grocer New Product Awards 2021.
Widely regarded as the number one event of its kind for food and drink, these awards recognise and applaud extraordinary innovation across the UK’s FMCG sector. Previous finalists in the same ‘Alcoholic Drinks’ category have included nationwide brands such as Sipsmiths Gin and Westons Cider.
As usual, the food and drink products at The Grocer New Product Awards were judged and scored on a rigorous 10-point criteria. These included appearance, aroma, taste/flavour, texture, quality of execution, value for money, targeting and insight, product as well as packaging innovation and design and instructions. Following three days of extensive judging, the panel of nine industry experts whittled down the huge number of entries to the elite few that made the 2021 shortlist – including Ruddington’s ‘Lockdown Gin’.
As previously reported, co-founders Rory Thorpe and Cheryl Stretton (pictured top) were busy establishing The Ruddy Fine Distillery just as COVID-19 struck last March. In fact, the arrival of the Coronavirus pandemic meant that their first product was not actually gin – but alcohol hand sanitiser! Having realised that their new distillery could be used to make the much sought after product to World Health Organisation safety standards, the duo quickly set about producing hundreds of 50ml bottles of ‘Ruddy Fine Hand Rub’. They even donated the first two hundred bottles to vulnerable members of our village community.
After that very unexpected beginning, the gin-making began! Following years of being enthusiastic hobbyists, when Rory’s day job in events took a dip due to the pandemic, they quickly diversified and accelerated their plans to open the Ruddy Fine Distillery as a going concern. They’ve since produced numerous batches of London Dry, Summer Berries, Navy Strength and a limited-edition Christmas Gin, as well as the Lockdown Gin which is now up for this national award.
Cheryl says: “Our Lockdown Gin is very special to us and for it to be recognised as a finalist in The Grocer’s New Product Awards for best new alcoholic drink is phenomenal. Its key ingredients include crab apples and bramley apples, bay leaves, nettle and raspberry leaves and lavender. All are foraged from within the village when their regular ingredients became scarce during multiple lockdowns.”
Cheryl, continues: “To create it we foraged botanicals not only from the village, but several came from our garden, during the three national lockdowns. This blend of ingredients has made for a hugely exciting and unusual gin, which has proved really popular and makes a great addition to our existing range of handcrafted gins, all made at our Ruddington distillery.”
Demonstrating innovation even through its packaging, the label has a nod to the home of the alcohol entrepreneurs. Created by Ruddington artist, Katie Derry, the bottle’s back label shows a treasure map of the village. An ‘X’ marks the spot where their flavours are developed at home in their kitchen, which can be seen through the clear centre of the front label.
Cheryl and Rory say their blends have been developed from a passion and fascination for the flavours and methods involved in creating new and exciting recipes. They are still meticulously developed in their own kitchen, before being taken down the road to the Distillery to be cooked up in small batches of just 350 bottles at a time.
Rory adds: “It’s been an incredible first year for us, selling over 5,000 bottles in under 12 months. We’ve been overwhelmed with demand for all our gins and the large bottles of Lockdown Gin sold out in less than 30 days. We have now got to wait for nature to take its course and ripen up the crab apples before we can start a new batch! Don’t worry though, there’s plenty of others to sample in the meantime.”
The Grocer New Product Awards winners will be announced at a ceremony at the Hilton Bankside in London on Tuesday 16th November. Meantime, you can catch Sheryl and Rory out and about with their ‘Gin Bar’ at ‘RuddFest’ and on their stall at September’s Ruddington Village Market.
In July, Ruddy Fine Distillery was also shortlisted in the ‘Producer Category’ of the East Midlands’ based ‘Great Food Club’ Awards 2021. So keep your fingers crossed for a double Ruddington celebration this year!
