Christmas comes early for gin and whisky distillery

A Yorkshire gin and whisky distillery has added two leading retailers to its portfolio and will be stocked in Harvey Nichols, John Lewis and four additional Booth’s stores in time for Christmas.

Based in Sutton-on-the-Forest, North Yorkshire, Cooper King Distillery’s range of spirits will feature during a week-long pop-up shop in Leeds Victoria Gate’s John Lewis store from 9 December to 15 December as well as being stocked permanently in Harvey Nichols, Leeds.

The young distillery, which currently has its gin in 24 Booths stores, has extended its partnership to feature within all 28 of its stores across the north of England.

Cooper King Distillery’s collection of gin includes its original Dry Gin and Herb Gin – available to buy via the new stockists – and it will offer its ‘Pilot Series’ products via its own shop over the festive period too.

The Pilot Series has seen the distillery add three new lines to its collection of award-winning drinks, including a berry and basil liqueur and a cold-distilled black cardamom botanical vodka. It is also offering bottles of new-make (unaged whisky) spirit some of which has been filled into casks for maturation into whisky, with an anticipated release date of 2023.

Cooper King Distillery was formed in 2016 by Dr Abbie Neilson, a scientist and Chris Jaume, a chartered architect, after the duo quit their jobs, bought one-way tickets to Australia and fell in love with distillation on the island of Tasmania.

Jaume said: “Having only launched our first sustainable spirit, Cooper King Dry Gin, 18 months ago, it is an honour to be stocked in some of the UKs leading luxury retailer outlets.

“Our commitment to sustainability is something we take seriously, and it is great to see industry spirit buyers getting behind us to stock our gin.

“When we were getting our hands dirty self-building the distillery, we never expected to be signing a partnership with Harvey Nichols just 18 months after launching our gin.”

Harvey Nichols will stock Cooper King Distillery’s Dry and Herb Gin in the Leeds store initially.

Nick Bell, spirits and beer buyer at Harvey Nichols, said: “Since Harvey Nichols first opened in 1831, it has led the way in sourcing the most desirable brands. We are committed to sustainable and responsible practice across all areas of the business and ethical sourcing is an important part of this programme.

“Sustainable brands such as Cooper King Distillery fit perfectly with what we want to achieve. Their commitment to the environment is to be applauded and we’re pleased to be able to support a thriving young business whose quality and care is clear across its range of spirits.”