I love small businesses & it’s always exciting to go out to visit them. Going into a business gives you a chance to really understand what makes them tick, what they stand for & where they are going. This is why I was delighted to have been invited on a press tour of the Cooper King Distillery.
Cooper King is based in Sutton-on-the-Forest, outside of York. The distillery has been completely self-built by the founders who make gin & they are now starting whiskey production as well.
I first came across Cooper King when I was on the Entrepreneurial Spark program which is where I transitioned my lifestyle blog into The Content Edit! Although we weren’t on the same cohort, I heard about their business which was just starting out at the various events held at E-Spark such as their pitching competitions.
Cooper King was founded by Chris Jaume & Abbie Nielson, who quit their jobs to travel to Australia for some adventure. Whilst there they became fascinated by the whiskey distilleries in Tasmania. Once back in the UK, they used their previous skills, Chris is a Chartered Architect and Abbie a scientist, to build their own distillery.
Cooper King, use the knowledge they gained in Tasmania to begin their first small-batches of gins – I tried them, they were good. They have even won awards already! They are the first distillery in Yorkshire to combine cold vacuum distillation & traditional hot copper-pot distillation. This allows them to tailor each botanical they use to gain the best flavours.
Cooper King are doing things differently, which I why I really enjoyed finding out more about them.
Where they can, they use locally grown botanicals, such as lavender to add to their gin. Plus they are the first distillery in Europe to join the International Environment Initiative which sees 1% of sales of their Dry Gincontibuted to environmental non-profits.
Then let’s talk about their branding! I love the name, Cooper King which is inspired by Chris’ great-great-grandfather, Charles Cooper King. This gives the name a personal touch. The bottle designs are also unique too, they took some old family designs which they found & incorporated them into the brand.
Next on the agenda for Cooper King is whiskey! The first batch of single malt whiskey (of course, using Yorkshire barley) has recently gone into production, using those techniques which they learnt in Tasmania which will help them stand out in the UK market.
It was such an interesting afternoon learning all about Cooper King, gin & whiskey. They offer tours & also have a small bar area for drinks (if like me, you’re lucky to go on a sunny day they also have a lovely outside area).
Cooper King is certainly a brand to watch & I am excited to see them grow & develop.
Find out more about Cooper King here: https://www.cooperkingdistillery.co.uk/
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