About Us & Our Gins

Launched in October 2016 by husband and wife team Andy & Zoe Arnold-Bennett in the market town of Ulverston, Cumbria. Shed 1 Distillery produces small batch, classically distilled with a contemporary-style, award-winning, craft gin.

“Smooth enough to be sipped, bold enough to be mixed.” Just 10 months after we launched, in August 2017, we received a Great Taste 2-star (Outstanding) Award for Cuckold’s Revenge. Shed Loads of Love was awarded a 1-star (Simply Delicious) Great Taste in 2018. In 2018 we were a finalist in the Cumbria Life’s Best Drinks Producer category and in 2019 we were awarded “Going Places” (One to Watch) by Cumbria Family Business. Also, Cuckold’s Revenge is included in the latest edition of “101 Gins To Try Before You Die”. In 2019, we were chuffed to bits to announce that we received another 5 Great Taste Awards AND both Cuckold’s Revenge and Giggle in the Ginnel were Highly Commended in the Craft Distillery Expo Gin of the Year! And this year, 2020, we again made the final of Cumbria Life’s Best Drinks Producer. We also won an accolade close to our heart and our ethos, we were the Small Producer, Environmental & Sustainability winners in The Gin Guide awards.

OUR GIN

Cuckold’s Revenge is named after Andy’s character, the cuckolded Master Ford in Merry Wives, which he toured with Northern Broadsides in 2016. It received a 2-Star (Outstanding) Great Taste Award in 2016. The Great Taste judges said: An interesting and beguiling blend of aromatics, soft and mysterious, delivering layers of Citrus and Spice with a lovely warming finish. Botanicals include green cardamom, coriander, nutmeg, fresh orange and lemon zest.
Cuckold’s is also featured in the latest edition of “101 Gins to Try Before You Die”, and was Highly Commended in the Craft Distillery Expo Gin of the Year Awards (2019/20) in the Contemporary Gin Category. 44%abv

Fancy Frolic. Whilst dog walking on a wintry beach, thoughts turned to hazy, summer days in the sun, frolicking around on the sand. A delicate blend of Lime Leaf, flower and fresh zest, a hint of Ginger and Strawberry come together to form a smooth flavoured, well-rounded gin with a sunny aspect. Who can resist a frolic? 43%ABV

Giggle in the Ginnel was created for a party we had in the ginnel (Northern English for alleyway) next to our house. A marvellous time was had! Star Anise and Angelica join with Elderberry and fresh Orange zest to form a powerful gin of significant character. Warming and smooth with an interesting finish. Giggle in the Ginnel received a Highly Commended in the Craft Distillery Expo Gin of the Year Awards (2019/20) in the Signature Botanical Gin Category. 43%ABV

Produced for Holker Hall’s Chilli Fest, made with locally grown chillies. If you are looking for a blow your head off chilli gin, this isn’t it! If you want a smooth, heated tipple you’ve come to the right place. We hold limited stock throughout the year. 43%ABV

**Please note: This gin has a yellow hue. We produced a gin using the traditional distilling method; then, we infused it with fresh, locally grown chillies.

Blackcurrant & Liquorice Gin Elixir. Inspired by childhood memories of the local sweet shop and foraging. Made with liquorice root and locally grown Cumbrian blackcurrants, steeped in a full-flavoured Shed 1 Gin, producing a contemporary twist on a classic favourite. 40%ABV

SEASONAL GINS

Shed Loads of Love received a Great Taste Award 1-star (Simply Delicious) in August 2018. The judges described it as: Lavender florals are apparent on the nose along with strawberry. Buoyancy of fruit and flowers is followed by a pleasant wave of chilli, plus the gin botanicals sitting deep. Tonic opens up the strawberry and florals even further. Quite dry on the finish.
Limited Edition: perfect for anyone you love. 41%ABV

Festive Tipple is Christmas in a glass! A smooth mix of festive flavours including cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, sultanas and cherries with lightly sweetened orange and lemon zest. Available from October 23rd to mid-January. 43%ABV

Limited Edition and Seasonal Festive Bramble Gin Elixir is made with foraged blackberries from around Ulverston and Heritage Apples: Dog Snout, Ladies Finger & Bloody Ploughman, grown in our friend’s orchard. We combine them with festively spiced Shed 1 Gin to produce a warm, rich, traditional liqueur. A perfect winter tipple. Available from October 23rd. 40%ABV

GIN MARMALADE

We use fresh zest in our gins which leaves us with a lot of citrus fruit. Zoe boils it up and makes jelly marmalade. Then she adds a slosh or two of Shed 1 Gin to give each jar a bit of zing! Cuckold’s Revenge Gin Jelly Marmalade won a Great Taste Award in 2019.
Available from some stockists and direct from us at markets and shows. Not available online, at the moment.
To find out more about our Marmalade Fund, please click here.

GIN CHOCOLATE - COMING SOON

Who Are We?

Andy has been a professional actor for over 20 years. Over that time, he’s tread the boards from Land’s End to John O’Groats and from Asia to America. He moved to Cumbria 13 years ago and will be happy to call Ulverston his home for the next 100! Acting is great but when you live somewhere so beautiful, you start to realise touring is taking you away from it, and your loved ones, for too long.

Zoe started her work life as a special paint finisher, then got the opportunity to teach in Japan for a year. This turned into a 7 year stint in Asia. It was fortuitous that Andy toured the world, otherwise they wouldn’t have met while she was teaching in Korea! She decided to return to the UK and make an honest man out of him. The bonus was realising that Ulverston is where she should have been living all along.

Our Story

The world of gin is a wonderful place, inhabited by lovely people with fine spirits. Who wouldn’t want to be part of that?

Having travelled the world and sampled the wonderful and weird that it has to offer, there’s nothing that quenches the thirst like a good gin and tonic.

However, to make your own. To mix the botanicals to produce your own signature flavour. To use the magic of alchemy to create gin nectar from natural ingredients. What a thrill!

But where could we begin our journey into juniper? What place on earth would suit our needs? Somewhere big enough for a small still, close to home would be good, rent-free even better.

“How about the shed?”

“Which one?”

“Shed 1, closest to the house.”

“What about all the stuff in it? “

“We’ll put it in the other one.”

“What, Shed 2? Good idea.”

And so, Shed 1 Distillery was born.

So You Want to Set up a Gin Distillery?

We get asked this regularly, so here is our guide to setting up a gin distillery. There may be things we’ve managed to erase from our memories (not always smooth sailing), but the one thing we must emphasise is everyone we spoke to wanted to help.

First point of call is HMRC. You may have heard that you can’t get a license to distil and rectify unless you have an 1800 litre still. This was never made law. It was only a guideline to stop people from blowing themselves up in their sheds, caves and other dwellings. The HMRC are helpful and can guide you through the process of getting your government licences.
Become a member of the Alcohol Wholesalers Registration Scheme.
Register with HMRC for Duty Stamps if you are going to sell your spirit in 300ml bottles or larger.
Now the real fun starts! Contact your local licensing department, where you will hopefully find a kind, knowledgeable soul who will help you through the minefield that can be all the local licenses you need: personal, premises etc, as well as directing you to the courses you may have to take to obtain them. What you need differs from area to area. We have been very lucky with the friendly people we’ve come across.
Now we head off to the planning department. Where is your still situated? Do you need a change of use putting on the building. Would there be an increase of traffic that impacts your neighbourhood? How do your neighbours feel about it? Have you ever fallen out with them or like us, have they become an intrinsic part of your taste-testing team?
If you are on an industrial estate, don’t take it for granted that it will be easy peasy lemon squeezy as the building may still need change of use. What will be the environmental impact?
Trading Standards and Environmental Health will find you. Either sit back and wait for a mysterious knock on the door, or get on the phone and have a chat. They will talk about weights, measures, types, standards, restrictions…You may feel you have thought of everything, but these guys will surprise you! They have many knowledgables and are happy to impart.
Lock yourself in a dark, quiet room. Think it all through and decide whether you really do still want to do this….

You decided you still want to do this! So:
What will you need and where are you going to store it all? Large bottles, small bottles, bottles shaped like bottles, bottles shaped like skulls, dolphins, unicorns. Corks: large corks, small corks, corks that fit, corks that don’t fit, do you want corks? How are you going to seal your tops: wax, paper, plastic, Cellotape, granny’s crochet? Packaging: boxes for single bottles, boxes for triple bottles, boxes for posting boxes of bottles, 99% of boxes will be the wrong size, custom boxes can cost more than your gin! Labels: design, front label, back label, side label (?), colour, size, texture, type, matt, gloss, applied by hand or machine, wording. Logistics and supply of all raw materials: where are you getting them, will they have them the next time you ask, is it twice the price than before because it’s a Tuesday Marketing: social media, advertising, promotion, POS, walking round town with a sandwich board, wrapping your car, your van, your dog. Invoicing, banking, bookkeeping, credit agreements: don’t get us started!
Don’t forget the still!