DYNAMISM IN DRINKS: WHO WINS YOUR 2014 VOTE?
Liam Hughes, The Glasgow Distillery Company
As CEO of The Glasgow Distillery Company, Liam Hughes (pictured right) wants to help breathe life back into that city’s rich distilling tradition, and began producing gin and single malt whisky in the city for the first time in 100 years in September.
Prior to setting up GDC Hughes held a number of high-profile corporate role in the beer world, and was Bulmers Scottish sales director until 2002; he then set up his own business Grow Sales – supplying brand ambassadors, mixologists, sales people to the likes of Heineken and Pernod Ricard.
Speaking to BeverageDaily.com in September, Hughes said: “It’s taken five years to get to where we are now – where we’re distilling from next week. We’re just in the end game in terms of finalizing everything so far as the distilling is concerned, so it’s exciting.
“We could have done our gin earlier, have a contract distiller make it down South. But we always felt that the right thing to do for us was to not make any products until we had the ability to distil them ourselves in Glasgow.”
Civic pride in the great city mercantile city of Glasgow, and in Scotland, is important for Hughes.
“We want to do our own thing – we’re a Glasgow gin, the first Glasgow gin. We’re producing a bespoke bottle that we hope reflects the engineering and past of Glasgow,” he said.
“In our own way we’re trying to inspire other businesses and enterprises, to try and bring Glasgow back into the world of distilling where it’s been quiet for far too long.”