My personal, real, secret diary ... is only for me to read. But since I still want to share my experiences with you, here's my online diary.
Thursday 21st December 2019
Notes from Glass of Bubbly.
“Genius Is Found In Simplicity” they are the words that you will find on every page on the website of Black Bottle Distillery, they create English Gin at a smart level, IQ Gin produce from a wash base, that they ferment from malted barley, this is a longer and more labour intense process that they believe creates a finer more unique Gin.
Tasting Notes – ” White pepper, juniper and coriander, it’s very punchy, very expressive and positively memorable.”
https://glassofbubbly.com/the-english-75-cocktail/
Thursday 21st November 2019
Notes from Master of Malt.
Check out this Oxford single malt from the same folks who brought you IQ Oxford Gin! Don't be fooled by the 'e' in 'whiskey', it's distilled just outside of Oxford (and aged in small barrels), but the team behind it wanted to differentiate the spirit from Scotch whisky. Oh, and Oscar Wilde attended Oxford University back in 1874, so there's a fun fact for you to impress people with - and a quote from the Irish poet himself on the label, too!
Thursday 21st July 2019
Another gin product on its way. Oak barrel rested for 6 months.
Master of Malt
The folks behind IQ Oxford Gin have given their spirit a rest in oak casks, resulting in this sweet, creamy tipple. Ought to be good for gin cocktails that could benefit from a helping of vanilla-y sweetness.
Monday 7th November 2016
Alcohol does not solve problems, but then again, neither does milk.
Spend Saturday watching the still operate and it is running sweetly. Produced 20 litres of 80% ABV not a bad test for a stripping run.
Reading a book by Sarah Knight called the Life Changing Magic of Not Giving a F**K. Maybe my one regret is, I should have said that to more people.
Wednesday 5th October 2016
Don’t break anyone heart they only have one. “Break their bones as they have 206 of them”.
A day of talking to suppliers and feeling they have their hand firmly in my pocket. Someone called it partnering, I called it something else.
To overcome the feeling of irritation, I first started to counted to 10 before answering but now I have given up for the day, as the count has become endless.
So where is my Cunning Plan "Baldrick
Saturday 1st October 2016
“A Cunning Plan” (Required)
Hopefully Monday should conclude the visits from the HMCE and I will then wait for a final judgement. Now trying to plan marketing for IQ ahead of manufacture.
A little like putting the cart before the horse but HMRC has a very powerful cart & do not want to pass go and go straight to jail.
So for a Cunning Plan and I need my own Baldrick
Friday, 23 September 2016
"Happiness" comes with completion of all the HMCE documentation.
Finally, after many attempts and little progress a period of form filling has been finished, started back in April.
Hopefully in the next couple of months we can move forward as a registered Distillery and see some light at the end of a very long tunnel.
Must celebrate with the last of the monkey 47 the finest of Gins and one I hope to equal in future.
Sunday, 4 September 2016
Today hopefully I will finish all documentation;
It has taken sometime to cover all the documentation required to register a distillery in the UK. I really hope this will be the end of it and I will be allowed to finally open for business.
I must however say that HMRC have been excellent to work with and it is just my inability to access some of the paper work that has caused many of the delays.