Charlie Gibbs
Charlie Gibbs

Festive Focus: Bdaily catches up with Steampunk Spirits founder Charlie Gibbs

Can you introduce yourself and your business to our readers?

“My name is Charlie Gibbs and I am the founder of Steampunk Spirits, a gin and rum producer based in Gateshead. We’ve been around for nearly five years now, having started on our kitchen table and now we are exporting to Australia, Japan, Guernsey and Denmark.

“Our philosophy is that we want to make spirits that are easily accessible to everyone; we love converting people who say “I don’t like gin” or “I don’t like rum” to our products!”

What was your company’s biggest achievement of the year?

“2018 saw us increase our exporting activity to include Australia and Japan and to create the infrastructure at our distillery to allow us to do on-site spirits tastings and to run our “Gin School” which will begin in 2019.

“We are also proud of our collaboration with local brewery Anarchy Brewing in producing “Christmas Chaos” beer which contains our Voodoo Spiced Rum.”

How would you approach 2018 differently, given the chance?

“I think we would have begun the preparations for our Christmas Gift Sets earlier to cope with the inevitable delays and issues that have plagued the project.”

What are your company’s plans for the new year?

“We will run our “Gin School” for people who seriously are considering becoming a gin producer on a commercial basis.

“We intend to give people the necessary information to allow them to have the best chance of success and stay on the right side of the law as well as the basics of gin distilling.”

What are your plans for the festive season?

“I would love to escape to warmer climes, but sadly my wife is likely to have another operation on her leg that she broke skiing four years ago, so it will likely be at home with the family enjoying lovely food and drinks – including our Voodoo Spiced Rum with some Christmas cake!”

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