Meet the family behind Exmoor Distillery in Dulverton

This month we chat to John & Nicola Smith and their son Ben Strong from Exmoor Distillery in Dulverton.

JOHN

When we first created our award-winning Northmoor Gin in 2017, I was working offshore in the oil and gas industry. I've now given up that career juggle which has changed my availability for Exmoor Distillery.

The reason for retirement from the oil business was to take a step back a bit so I’ve also got some plans for Ben to step up a little bit more and my intention would be that once that's in place to back off a bit from the day to day running of the business as well. So, things are developing quite naturally rather than sticking to a really rigid structured plan and we're all just making the most of opportunities as they arise really.

In addition to creating our own spirits we're also doing a lot more contract distillation, so we make products for other people now too. Clients will come to me and ask me to design a unique gin for them under their own label, albeit it has our details on the back label so everyone knows where it comes from. One of our clients is an old gentlemen's club in Pall Mall in London. Whenever we deliver a batch of gin to them, which typically is 350 odd bottles, myself and Nicola go and stay the night. They put us up at the club and that's always very interesting. It always surprises me where we end up and who we meet during the course of running the business!

When it comes to the logistics of running a business, I’ll be honest, I was completely naive about everything, other than making spirits. I've held some very responsible jobs, but always as an employee. That's a completely different situation when compared to running your own business, isn't it? All the legalities and all the proper stuff of running a business has been an eye opener. Fascinating.

We are that archetypal family run business and we’re trying to walk a path less trodden. Everyone seems to go down the same route when they start a business like ours; a small artisan family business creating a small batch product but of course their underlying ambition is to get into supermarkets and to grow and to become national. The small batch artisan ‘war cry’ becomes just another marketing tool but we actually live it and breathe it.

Ben and his wife Lucy have two beautiful children and I would like one day to see them involved in the business should they choose to.

Exmoor Rum NICOLA

My focus this year has been on events. Since winning our many awards including three stars from the Great Taste of the West awards for our Northmoor Navy Reserve Gin I have noticed that the local foodies at markets and shows really recognise that accreditation and it’s led to a lot of purchases.

I love attending the local events such as the Dulverton monthly market, Clatworthy Fete, Wiveliscombe Show, Watchet Street Fair and the Exford Show as they are more intimate and you have discussions with local people and local groups which helps continue to build relationships. Quality over quantity always. There’s a shift in consumer trends and we’ve seen the smaller events are working really nicely.

We have a mobile bar as well as our stall now. People are loving our cocktails – they are all based around our rum, gin and vodka and having a high-quality spirit in a cocktail completely changes the whole drink.

The last 7 years have certainly left me battered and bruised! There’s lessons to be learned everyday so it’s been a real education. It’s very, very hard work and you’re dealing with people constantly but that’s OK as I’m very much a people’s person.

We try to keep the team small, it is more of a strain on each of us but we’ll look to expand when the time is right. We all have our strengths in the company and we have to agree who’s doing what and then leave each other to get on with it. At the end of the day we don’t want to carry problems home us. When Ben joined us in the business 4 years ago it made life easier as he’s really good with people and by being younger he’s got a lot of enthusiasm – whereas I’m getting quite tired!

BEN

At the moment what we've got here is a really stable operation. And we’re fighting the downward trend in the alcohol production industry. There's a lot of businesses in our industry that are struggling financially; they’re struggling with sales and they're scratching their heads about how to be successful. We're really riding that wave of being a successful operation and I think sometimes we don't take enough time to reflect and give ourselves credit towards what we’re doing and how good our performance is. The year that we've had so far has been full of success.

This year has seen us listed with the finest wine and spirit merchants in the world -Berry Brothers & Rudd. John has created a product which has put us there. We don’t have a production team of twenty! It’s just us.

Obviously, we're all very driven and motivated people and we visualise success differently and you can kind of get carried away with it but when you look at ourselves from the start to where we are now, well it’s incredible.

Between you and me…

Ben on Nicola: We’re both not morning people, we are right night owls.

Ben on John: He’s got a newfound obsession for his guitar and he’s taken to strumming away in the office!

Nicola on Ben: He’s the fussiest person ever, it takes him about 20 minutes to order food in a restaurant

Nicola on John: He’s always up a ladder talking a sample from the spirits - claiming to be doing ‘quality assurance’ - Yeah, right!

John on Nicola: Nicola’s funny because she doesn’t really understand how important quality assurance is!

John on Ben: I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Ben is almost teetotal!

COMPANY STATS

ESTABLISHED: 2017

ADDRESS:

Unit 5 Barle Enterprise Centre

Dulverton