Monday morning at 11am isn’t the most obvious time and day to throw a party but when you are working with busy MSPs, you really need to go with the flow. We were delighted when Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy, Fergus Ewing agreed to do the honours and come down to Kintyre on Monday to declare us officially open.
Surrounded by invited guests, who included some of our Wild Boar crowdfunders, the original tasting panel, local stockists and of course, our original poster-boy, Argyll McMillan, Mr Ewing delivered a moving speech, celebrating our achievements to date and emphasising that we are very much a family business. He also stressed our commitment to sustainable production and our goals for promoting this stunning part of the world and ultimately providing local employment. He then revealed a plaque outside the distillery shop and the festivities began in earnest.
Gin flowed from the horsebox bar, guests tucked into a magnificent buffet from Argyll Bakeries and music was provided by the Beinn an Tuirc Kintyre Pipe Band, who are sounding fantastic ahead of next week’s world championships in Glasgow.
We all pretended it wasn’t really raining and mostly milled around outside the new tasting room and shop. Many of the guests were seeing it for the first time and were consistently impressed with what they saw. Great Brink have done a tremendous job for us on the interior and have created a warm, welcoming space which combines natural textures with contemporary finishes.
It was wonderful to have the opportunity to talk to so many of the people who have helped us throughout this amazing journey, many of whom had travelled great distances to be with us on Monday. It was a very special day which none of us will forget in a hurry.
