Breaking out the baubles

Scottish distillery looks to quadruple both turnover and headcount as it produces a MILLION gin-filled baubles.

Pickering’s Gin co-founders Marcus Pickering and Matt Gammell, above.
Pickering’s Gin co-founders Marcus Pickering and Matt Gammell, above.

PICKERING’S Gin has unveiled ambitious plans to quadruple its annual turnover, fuelled in part by the production of one million gin-filled Christmas tree baubles from its central Scotland distillery.

The distillery says it completely sold out last year in 82 seconds, shifting 30,000 of the Christmas tree decorations.

This year, the Edinburgh-based company has quadrupled its staff as it eyes record sales and exports in 2017.

Pickering’s has chosen to scale its production by 33 times compared with 2016 volumes to meet global demand for their baubles, which retail at £30 for a pack of six 5cl measures.

Matt Gammell, co-founder and head distiller commented: “Last Christmas we very quickly realised how popular our idea had become, and as a result we sold out well before we wanted to.

“We’ve been gearing up for Christmas 2017 since December last year, and have taken steps to ensure that we are as ready as we can be. We have invested heavily in staff and our technology here at Summerhall, which has enabled us to hit our target of producing one million baubles on site.”

Marcus Pickering, co-founder and head of export added: “Our appeal as a gin-distillery has always been our authenticity. Everything we do happens right here in the heart of Edinburgh and despite this incredible commercial shift for us as a distillery, our production and staff remain here at Summerhall.

“We have already secured deals to stock our product across the UK this Christmas, and we are looking forward to a very busy last few months in the run up to the festive period.”

The Christmas tree decorations are now available from shop.pickeringsgin.com and from more than 200 retailers in the UK and abroad.