A FORMER film lecturer is rewriting the script for his next venture.
Daniel Beckett is closing the door on the classroom after 11 years teaching Film and Television at Warwickshire College, to launch a career as a gin distiller.
And it literally is a cottage industry as the 38-year-old is producing Pinnock Dry Gin from the kitchen of his Kineton home.
Daniel explained how it was a bid to get in shape which led him to his new venture.
“My wife is a producer in television and about five years ago she was talking to one of the actresses on the set of the BBC show Doctors about how she and I were trying to get into shape for our wedding. She was advised we should start drinking gin and slimline tonic as an alternative alcoholic drink.
“I quickly got a taste for G&Ts. Then over time we started to build more of an appreciation for the craft element of it as well. “
“The eureka moment came when I read an article in 2017 about small-batch distillers and the fact you could actually make gin on a small scale again now.”
For the next year the entrepreneur was busy researching the industry he knew nothing about.
Today he produces 20cl and 50cl bottles from a 40-litre copper still in his small cottage kitchen which has been transformed into a pint-sized distillery and bottling plant.
“As a self-taught distiller, I’d made about 30 gins before I found the one I liked, including some pretty lousy ones. There were a couple of rules I set myself from the outset. As well as containing at least three-local botanicals, I wanted it to be a sippable gin, something you could drink neat. In my opinion if you can drink something and enjoy it on its own then it’s a good gin.”
But Daniel was not the only one who liked the final result. His hand crafted gin is stocked in more than 35 outlets throughout Warwickshire, and have also picked up a number of awards.