Meet Bruce, founder of Purist Gin.
“So you want to know how I founded an award-winning London Dry Gin brand at the age of 21 during a national lockdown?”
From the ground up...
Purist Gin is a far cry from the bathtub gins I would sell to my mates at school, but that’s where it began for me.
From travelling in Asia discovering botanicals like Yuzu, to completing a Scottish distilling apprenticeship, my journey into the world of gin began long before the founding of Purist Gin.
The Spark
When I found myself with my back against the wall during the pandemic, unsure where to turn next, I knew it was time to launch the business I'd always dreamt of.
Something totally different, a classic gin to smash through the masses of diluted, highly flavoured gins and gin-based liqueurs. A clean, ultra-smooth, punchy London-dry gin.
I knew one thing for certain, all the gin I would make was going to be single-shot gin.
What on earth does that mean I hear you ask?
Well, I wanted to adhere to the process, which means adding nothing but water after distillation, leading to the cleanest, smoothest experience possible.
Other brands bulk their product with more ethanol but that’s not for me, I'm all about the purity.
Lift-off
In the following weeks and months, Purist Gin was born. Our first ever distillation, batch #0 was 550 bottles. It was a big commitment, we had to make this work.
Through our new e-commerce site and with the help of our first major stockist, Craft56, sales went through the roof! For a business that was entirely bootstrapped by me and my parents, to sell so many units so quickly, meant the absolute world to us. We’ll always be grateful to our early supporters.
This early success allowed us a larger marketing budget and we set our eyes on the 2020 Scottish Gin Awards…
New Heights
What started out as a passion project in the West End of Glasgow would, after just six months, take Bronze at the prestigious Scottish Gin Awards for Best London Dry Gin.
We were off and running.
After an unprecedented year of lockdowns, desperation and panic, the world was starting to transition back to normal - it was time to change the game plan.
Off the back of our reaffirming performance at the gin awards and successfully attracting our first physical stockists, I set to work growing the business.
We launched our second gin, Purist Black 57, along with a personal idea of mine, Purist Art Initiative.
Purist Black 57 is our all black, no-nonsense, navy-strength gin.
We distilled 72 bottles and launched it on our website with trepidation.
It sold out in under a week.
The Art of Gin
I wanted Purist Gin to always be fresh and ever-changing, which is why in November 2020, it became Purist Art Gin.
For over a year now, independent Scottish artists have been invited to design a one-off, unique label for our bottle.
Not only do we get a fantastic face for our gin, but it allows us to support some terrific artists financially as well.
Same award-winning gin, all new aesthetic.
Onwards & Upwards
2021 saw us expand our range once again with the arrival of Purist Marble. We launched this fruiter, lower ABV gin just in time for summer.
My mum Colette joined the business full time to lend her accounting experience, managerial prowess, and generally ensure that people toe the line.
Not long after, our team then doubled to four as we took on two new kickstart interns, whose job would be to elevate the marketing and social media of the brand.
In the darkness of a global lockdown, Purist found its fire, and it’s been burning ever since.
