We are all partial to a crisp balloon glass of gin, even more so when the gin is distilled in our own city.
Local distillers Aintree Gin who established in December 2019, are located near the world-famous steeplechase host, Aintree Racecourse. The brand reflects one of the city most exciting calendar dates of the year but continues the excitement all year round with their vibrate brand.
With recent affects of the coronavirus pandemic, The Randox Health Grand National was cancelled, meaning a large amount of stock was available. The team behind Aintree Gin decided to be proactive and what better use of their stock then to help support the NHS during unprecedented times.
We caught up with team to talk about the brand and their support during COVID-19.
Tells us about Aintree Gin and how it all began?
Our distillery is based near Aintree Racecourse which is why our brand is represented by the colourful horse.
We wanted to create a brand that reflected the exciting time of the year when our city comes alive for the “Grand National Event”. Most of the team are from Aintree (or very close), so we can all relate to our brand personally and this has created a passion and a fantastic buzz around the distillery.
After launching in December 2019 Aintree Gin had an amazing start. The local support from businesses and people from Liverpool has been amazing, now stocked in over 30 bars and restaurants including the world-famous Cavern Club. It’s really inspiring to see the reactions of people when they first see and taste our brand. After an amazing start we had our sites on what would have been the biggest event of the year for us, The Grand National.
How has the coronavirus outbreak affected you and how have you supported during this time?
The COVID 19 outbreak resulted in the cancellation of all of Aintree Gins Grand National events, including working with bars, restaurants, hotels and an Aintree Gin Cocktail bar outside the racecourse.
With excessive stocks of ethanol (pure alcohol) and reflecting on the situation we figured out how we can help. After deciding that we could deliver maximum Impact by addressing the nationwide shortages of hand sanitiser we have converted our production line to produce antibacterial alcohol-based sanitiser.
It helps us being local in Liverpool we have the capabilities to dispatch PPE at short notice and get it to the front line quicker than the standard ordering procedures in most care facilities or hospitals. This enables us to be an emergency stock “back up” and offer a very useful service.
We have a stock of sanitiser, face masks, face shields and bio suits that we keep ready for emergency deployment anywhere in Liverpool, Sefton or Knowsley within 1 hour. This is used on a daily basis all over Liverpool and further.
How can the necessary people purchase and get hold of your PPE?
Aintree Sanitiser and other products are available to purchase on our website www.aintreegin.com at reasonable costs and all profits raised from all purchases on our website are donated towards more emergency PPE supplies.
So far, we have donated PPE including masks, face shields and equivalent to over 5000 x 50ml bottle refills to care homes, care workers, emergency services and NHS hospitals. We have also installed Aintree Sanitiser dispensers at Aintree Asda for NHS and Care workers to fill up for free during shopping trips.
The Aintree store alone has now refilled equivalent to over 1000 x 50ml bottles within a few weeks.
You have also taken the opportunity to donate the profits your making back towards more emergency PPE supplies, what made you decide to support in this way?
We are donating all of our profits because we are not doing this for profit. Aintree Gin do not want to profit from people who need our products to keep themselves and their families safe during this pandemic.
That is not something this brand is about. Our prices are all rightly so affordable. The people of Liverpool supported us when we launched Aintree Gin and are still supporting us on a massive level today. It’s our duty to return the favour!
Our set up is a win win for anyone buying PPE. Our customers rightly so get high quality reasonably priced products, the more we sell the more money raised towards donations. We are all helping each other…
To keep up to date follow @aintreegin & @aintreesanitser on Instagram.
For further information or to purchase visit www.aintreegin.com
