Pickering’s Gin sends baubles abroad with HSBC UK support

The funding has enabled Pickering’s to make increased numbers of gin baubles ahead of the holiday season, in response to a significant rise in demand both domestically and overseas, since the product’s launch in 2014.

It has also enabled the company to lease its first warehouse facility to store the additional baubles and employ eight seasonal staff, adding to its 19 full-time permanent employees.

Co-founders Matthew Gammell and Marcus Pickering were friends and business partners for many years before opening Summerhall Distillery, with backgrounds in engineering, furniture restoration and property renovation. Inspired by a gin recipe Marcus inherited from a friend of his late father, the duo built their distillery in the heart of Edinburgh and have produced award-winning gin since 2013.

In its first year, the company sold a few hundred of their gin-filled Christmas baubles to a local Christmas fair. After going viral online two years later in 2016, the company scaled up their production to over one million baubles in 2017. This year, to service demand in the UK and overseas, the small Edinburgh distillery has produced a staggering 1.2 million baubles, all filled on site with specially designed machinery.

Almost half a million baubles have been shipped to the United States and are now for sale across 23 states for the very first time.

Matthew Gammell, co-founder, head distiller and head of production at Pickering’s Gin, said: “We launched our gin baubles as a festive, novelty product to sell over Christmas but never anticipated we’d have such a positive response from consumers. The support from HSBC UK has made this year’s production process far smoother, with increased hands on deck to make the product and much-needed space to store the 1.2 million baubles.” 

Marcus Pickering, co-counder and head of export at Pickering’s Gin, said: “There’s huge demand for our gin overseas, with bottled gin already being sold in Beijing and the United States. Following a fantastic online following, we now have the opportunity to send baubles internationally as well, with the US being our first port of call. HSBC UK has provided us with essential banking facilities that allow us to sustain growth as we respond to continually increasing demand for our products within the UK and overseas.”

Susan Rowand, head of business banking at HSBC UK in Scotland, added: “Marcus and Matthew run an impressive operation at Pickering’s Gin and know how to develop quality products that appeal to their customers. We’re thrilled to support them as they set their sights on increased exports and respond to the incredible demand they’ve seen for their gin baubles.”