The Launch Party

After finishing that first proper batch of forty bottles with Faye and Devil’s Dyke Distillery, the story took another slightly unexpected turn.

I disappeared to South Africa for a few weeks.

We’re incredibly lucky to be able to travel as much as we do, but the timing suddenly made things complicated. The Business Leaders Wine Club launch event was approaching fast, and for a while it looked like I might not actually be able to attend my own launch party.

To make matters worse, I was due to travel to Manchester the day after returning from South Africa – on exactly the same date as the event.

The People Who Twisted My Arm

By mid-2025 the Vermouth Actually idea had gone quiet again.

I had told plenty of people about the project, but I still couldn’t quite bring myself to face the mountain of paperwork required to make it legal. Selling alcohol in the UK is not exactly simple. There’s a personal licence, a premises licence, alcohol storage permissions, food premises registration, alcohol duty registration – and even the requirement to advertise in the local newspaper that you intend to sell alcohol from your home so that neighbours have the opportunity to object.

It’s… a lot.

So once again I stepped away from the idea.