CROWDS DESCEND ON ARDGOWAN DISTILLERY SITE FOR OPEN DAY
Queues for tour of Blackwoods building
Distil plc (AIM:DIS), owner of premium drinks brands RedLeg Spiced Rum, Blackwoods Gin and Vodka, TRØVE Botanical Vodka and Blavod Black Vodka, is pleased to note that Ardgowan Distillery Company Limited (“Ardgowan”), hosted its first Open Day on Saturday 22 July at the distillery site in Inverkip, with representatives from Distil in attendance.
The site welcomed more than 5,000 visitors on the day from the local area and as far afield as the USA. Guests were given the opportunity to sign-up to Clan Ardgowan, pre-purchase an Ardgowan cask, and secure a limited-edition Clan Ardgowan Open Day bottling, with Master Whisky Maker, Max Mcfarlane, on hand to host whisky tastings and sign bottles.
Master Whisky Maker, Max Mcfarlane, signing bottles
In addition, guests were given the opportunity to tour the Blackwoods building, taste the range, and discover the newly installed still, as well as cast votes to decide its name from a shortlist evoking stories from the local area. The winning name will be revealed at a later date as part of the opening of the visitor centre, which will include a gin and vodka school where guests can try their hand at distilling their own bespoke bottlings, tasting room, bar and retail space.
Alongside whisky and gin tastings, visitors were treated to live music from crowd pleasers The Laurettes, food trucks, and a pop-up bar from the Inverkip Hotel serving Ardgowan and Blackwoods cocktails.
The Laurettes entertain crowds
The day was a celebration of the Ardgowan journey so far, and the local community, which the distillery will be a part of for years to come.
Commenting on the Open Day, Martin McAdam, CEO Ardgowan, said: “We are really bowled over by the local community support. We estimated that over the 5 hour period we had more than 5,000 people at the event. We served over 1,000 tastings and our special bottling for the day sold out very quickly. We really appreciate the support from the local community and the whisky fans who travelled to our event. We had people come from the USA, France, Germany, Austria, Ireland and even Perthshire!”
"We thank people for their patience whilst waiting in the queues - they were a bit longer than we would have liked but I spoke to as many people as I could on the day and everyone had only positive things to say about the day. We would like to make this an annual event and we are already planning on how we can make this an even better experience for everyone who came along."
Distil Executive Chairman, Don Goulding, said: “It was great to be a part of the Ardgowan Open Day, which was a resounding success. The team created a fantastic atmosphere and experience, and the feedback from visitors was unanimously positive. We were delighted to be able to show guests the newly installed stills and give tastings of the Blackwoods gin & vodka range, with great comments received on the liquid, and enthusiasm shown for the plans for the visitor centre. This marks the start of a long relationship with the local community, and we look forward to supporting Ardgowan as it continues to grow.”
Ardgowan is poised to commence construction of a new net-zero distillery which includes cutting-edge technologies and partnerships with new technology developers to deliver a truly carbon-neutral spirit. The distillery has partnered with Heriot-Watt University and engineers Briggs of Burton to develop technology to capture all of the CO2 in its fermentation process and transform it into green biomethane - a technique which has never been used in a Scotch whisky distillery before.