November 2015

Dear Friends of Broker’s Gin BROKER’S GIN NEWSLETTER The 1st November 2015 marks the beginning of a new era for Broker’s Gin. As some readers will know, Broker’s Gin Limited has been the European agent for the McCormick Distilling Company of Missouri since 2002. The biggest-selling products that we have represented across Europe are Tequila Rose Strawberry Cream Liqueur and Platte Valley Corn Whiskey. Broker’s Gin Limited and McCormick Distilling Company have recently completed a transaction whereby Martin and Andy have sold their shares in Broker’s Gin Limited to McCormick, who are now 100% owners of the brand. After seventeen years of continuous growth in the sales of Broker’s Gin, Martin and Andy decided to sell the company in order to place Broker’s Gin with a new owner who could take the brand to even greater heights, especially in the important North American market. Martin and Andy and the other members of the Broker’s Gin team will continue working on the development of the brand, supporting McCormick in the USA and continuing to manage activities across the rest of the world. The team comprises, from left, Martin Dawson, Julia Gale, Peter Martin, Petronella von Wielligh and Andy Dawson. They are shown here manning the stand at ProWein in Germany in March 2015.

In June Andy spent two weeks in Massachusetts and Connecticut. In Massachusetts he worked with Carolina Wine & Spirits, a division of the Martignetti Companies. In Connecticut he worked with Slocum & Sons. Andy went on the road with excellent sales people in both states and made numerous new sales in both off-premise and on-premise accounts. Many thanks for all the support he got from the two teams. Many thanks also to Don Ulino of Hood River Distillers who set the trip up. The photo on the right shows the B&B where Andy spent the weekend near Provincetown on Cape Cod. On his drive from Cape Cod down to Connecticut Andy stopped at the beautiful Mystic Seaport.

The Charles W Morgan, the last remaining Furling the sails wooden whaling ship in the world

The following month Andy spent a week and a half on a road trip around Texas. He knows that July is not the best time to visit Texas, weather-wise, but the trip tied in with his subsequent attendance at Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans. His itinerary included Houston, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio. He worked with Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC) and Multicarte, who act as brokers for Broker’s Gin in Texas.

Andy at Radio Milano Bar in Houston with Andy at Triniti Restaurant in Houston with Christopher Morris, Lifecoach/Barman/Sommelier RNDC’s Hawk Division on-premise team

No trip to Texas would be complete without at least one visit to a stadium. The team in Dallas was of course very pleased that Andy made it to the Dallas Cowboys stadium! Many thanks to everyone at RNDC and Multicarte for a very productive and enjoyable visit to the Lone Star State. The step up in depletions arising from Andy’s trip is visible in the numbers. And then it was off to New Orleans for the mix-off of the third annual Broker’s Bowler Cup at Tales of the Cocktail. The event had been expertly set up by Keri Eliason and Olivia Barker of HRD together with Laura Peet from the Smartfish creative agency. All Andy had to do was show up! The four finalists from around the country were: East - Adrian Misacango of Tessa in New York City, with “La Flor de Tessa” West - April Simms of Velveteen Rabbit in Las Vegas, with “Dill Me Baby” South - Brett Esler (defending champion) of Whisler’s in Austin, with “An English Summer” Central - Jason Leinart of Sugar House in Detroit, with “May Flowers”

Andy with (from left) Adrian, April, Brett and Jason

Andy with the hostesses in the Andy with Bernie Ralston of Select Brands, Broker’s Gin Tasting Room Broker’s Gin’s broker in Louisiana

The Broker’s Gin Tasting Room at the Hotel Monteleone was again a riot of activity - the four finalists mixing their cocktails in huge quantities, a band playing, literally hundreds of visitors passing through, playing games, wearing bowler hats, tasting the cocktails and generally having a fine old time. They know how to party in New Orleans! The overall winner of the Broker’s Bowler Cup was selected by crowd voting. All four cocktails were excellent and it was a close call, but the people’s champion was April Simms with her cocktail “Dill Me Baby”.

Visitors to the Broker’s Gin Tasting Room enjoying the great old English game of darts. Note the fan’s T-shirt - it looks like 5 o’clock is party time!

Andy with Chris Schoennagel, Andy with Yira Vallejo, Andy with people’s champion a long-time fan of Broker’s Gin an old friend from New York April Simms

The recipe for “Dill Me Baby” is:

2 oz Broker’s Gin ¾ oz lemon juice ¾ oz sweet pepper syrup ½ oz Velvet Falernum 2 dashes bitters Celery shrub Dill sprig Edible flowers Shake all the ingredients with ice and double strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a dill sprig and edible flowers.

Andy’s last official call in New Orleans was to Harrah’s Hotel and Casino. Bernie Ralston had recently placed Broker’s Gin there as the house gin. Andy was very pleased to be able to meet and say thank you to the management. In the photo Andy is seen with Dale Harvey (left) and Michael Tran. We are sure that having a Broker’s Gin in hand will improve every visitor’s chances of winning at the tables and machines.

Meanwhile over on the other side of the world, more Broker’s Gin partying has been going on. Our importer in Kazakhstan, Brig Limited, sent through the following photos from an event in August at the Guns & Roses Bar in Aktau, Kazakhstan. Thank you very much.

Who says all the fun happens in New Orleans???

Not to be outdone, our agent in British Columbia, Stile Brands, sponsored a Luxury and Supercar Weekend in Vancouver in September. Andy’s only complaint was that he wasn’t there to participate in the event. Maybe next year. Many thanks to Carmen D’Onofrio and the team at Stile Brands.

Not having the sunshine of Vancouver, the next Broker’s Gin event in the UK was held undercover. We participated in London Cocktail Week in October, under the auspices of Hi-Spirits, our UK distributor. The Broker’s Gin bar was built onto the side of an iconic British vehicle, the Land Rover Defender. The venue was Old Spitalfields Market in the City of London. There has been a market on this site for over 350 years. Andy is seen below with bartenders Lee (left) and Aled, who offered visitors a selection of delicious Broker’s Gin cocktails. Case sales of Broker’s Gin in the UK so far this year are running over 100% up on last year. Many thanks to Hi-Spirits for the stellar performance.

Meanwhile Peter has been our roving ambassador across Europe, making multiple visits to Spain, Greece, Scandinavia and the Baltic states. Great things have been happening in all those markets. Peter also attended the Cannes Duty Free Show in October on behalf of Broker’s Gin. We would like to welcome two new importers in South America - Prix in Mexico and Tres Blasones in Argentina. In Europe we would like to welcome Arcus in Sweden. And finally we would like to recommend a great new book called 101 Gins to Try Before You Die, by Ian Buxton. It is a fantastic book, not just because it includes Broker’s Gin, but because it is highly informative, very readable and full of dry humour. With best wishes

Martin Andy

Martin Dawson Andy Dawson Broker’s Gin Limited Broker’s Gin Limited