By Scott Wright

A GOUROCK-based gin brand has opened talks with distributors in the US and Italy as it targets overseas expansion following a strong response to the launch of the spirit.

Shipyard Gin, which is inspired by Inverclyde’s shipbuilding heritage, was launched by Greenock-born Andy Samuel in October after his work as a wedding videographer was disrupted by the pandemic.

The first few thousand bottles of the spirit were quickly snapped up in the first weeks after its launch, with the brand securing stockists in Glasgow, Liverpool, London, Belfast and Inverclyde, generating £30,000 of sales in the process.

Now Mr Samuel is hoping to take the brand overseas, and has begun talks with international distributors. These include Park Street in the US, which deals with wholesalers and retailers, and a number of hotel chains. It is thought the brand could begin exporting to the US this year, amid hopes that its imagery will appeal to drinkers in cities such as Chicago and Miami.

“We are also in discussions with a distributor in Italy who values premium Scottish produce and are excited to look at developing the brand within Italy, primarily in online retail,” said Mr Samuel, who has aspirations to build the brand across Europe and in Asia.

Mr Samuel took inspiration from his grandfather John Samuel, who worked in the shipyards in the 1930s and 1940s and made wine from local berries and flowers in his spare time. He developed the recipe for Shipyard Gin with Lewis Scothern of Arbroath micro-distillery Distillutions, and had the product bottled and ready for sale in less than a year. Current stockists in Scotland include Craft56, the first online retailer to list the gin.

Mr Samuel is aiming to build a distillery in Inverclyde within the next 10 years.

Start-up costs were supported by a £12,000 funding package from Transmit Startups, delivered as part of the British Business Bank’s Start Up Loans programme last year, which allowed bottles, labels and packaging to be purchased in bulk. The funding was secured after Mr Samuel had been rebuffed by a high-street bank.

Mr Samuel said: “Never in my wildest dreams did I expect Shipyard Gin to take off in the way that it did, but in a few short few weeks we delivered quantities that you would usually expect from a small-batch gin in six months or more. It was always a pipe-dream to create a local brand that celebrates Inverclyde’s history as a shipbuilding hub – at one point the yards were responsible for as much as 20 per cent of the world’s shipping fleet – and the pandemic gave me the chance to take the leap.”

Mark Sterritt, UK network director, Scotland, at the British Business Bank, said: “Shipyard Gin is a great example of how someone’s lifelong ambition can become a reality with the right support.”

Peter Corr, business adviser at Transmit Startups, said: “It’s always a pleasure to work with people who recognise exactly what makes their business special and Andy is a great example of that.”