Husband and wife Patrick and Sarah Saunders are founders of Black Shuck Distillery, producing spirits, liqueurs and schnapps. With a new home in Hindolveston opening for distillery tours tomorrow, Folk Features takes a look around.
The story of how family-run business Black Shuck Distillery began, dates back 14 years, when Patrick and Sarah Saunders, together with their then teenage children Leanne, Nicola and William had an idea for a new business. Sarah explains: “When we started in 2011 it was really a family project – something to teach our children some transferable skills. “We had been making sloe gin for family and friends for several years, and that got us thinking that we could make the best sloe gin in the world and turn it into a business idea.”
The company takes its name from the legendary but ghostly large black dog said to roam the region. Sarah, who grew up in Wells-next-the-Sea, explains: “My dad used to tell stories of this terrifying ghost to make sure I came home early at night. When we were picking sloes for sloe gin, I remember retelling the same stories to the children. I thought it would be nice to keep the legend alive.”
The brand’s iconic image was created by Leanne at an early family meeting in 2011. Sarah says: “Our eldest daughter sketched the logo in 20 minutes – she hadn’t even done GCSE art!” But she adds: “Leanne has always been the creative one.”
Nicola was keen for her parents to make a profit whereas Will was studying IT and helped them with the website. “Right from the outset everyone had different skills to bring to the business,” says Sarah.
By the autumn of 2011, many Saturday and Sunday mornings were spent gathering sloes with family members more than happy to taste test the trial runs. “Nowadays, there is an ever-increasing tasting panel of about 40 family and friends.”
A year later the whole family attended their first event with an opening stock of around 300 bottles of sloe gin. Sarah says: “We thought in the worst case scenario we would be giving it away as Christmas presents for the next 10 years!” But by the end of the afternoon, they had received numerous compliments and sold several bottles.
The family started to approach farm shops and delis to persuade them to stock Black Shuck Sloe Gin on their shelves. Walsingham Farm Shop placed an order and a couple of weeks later they placed another. “That first December, we sold all 300 bottles and we thought ‘Okay, we’d better make some more’.”
In that first year they had enlisted the help of a distiller in London, but, as Sarah says: “We quickly decided we wanted to have our own still.”
Over the next two years Patrick and Sarah worked tirelessly on new ideas and four more fruit liqueurs were added to the Black Shuck range.
During 2013 they again enlisted the help of family and friends as they began work on a recipe for Black Shuck Gin. It took over two years of recipe development before Patrick and Sarah were completely happy with the results.
By 2017 they had given up their jobs and were concentrating on Black Shuck Distillery full-time, “I was a secondary school maths teacher – a job I absolutely loved.” However, spending four or five hours bottling at the end of a day of teaching was proving too much!
When the Covid pandemic happened, sales had “dropped through the floor” so they switched to making bottles of hand sanitiser instead. “We made 28,000 bottles,” recalls Sarah. However, after two weeks online sales rocketed. “It was a busy time.”
But Sarah makes the point: “We didn’t want to become known as a cosmetic producer.” In the spring of 2020, when pubs were forced to close their doors, breweries had barrels of beer going to waste, so Patrick and Sarah collaborated with David and Rachel of Norfolk Brewhouse, producer of Moongazer ales, and the upshot was a Distale called Moonshuck. Sarah says: “We have become close friends of theirs. We share a lot of the same challenges without being competitive.”
Black Shuck, which won Best Norfolk Producer 2023, was based in Fakenham until recently and distillery tours took place there. Sarah observes: “There has been an increase in visitors looking for an experience – and we were getting more and more people wanting to come for a distillery tour.
“The response was just phenomenal – at least 9 times out of 10 we were getting emails saying what a great time they had had.” However, the room they used for the distillery tours wasn’t really big enough. “We could fit 12 people in.”
They started looking at other sites, one of which was the new location in Hindolveston. “We first came and looked here in November 2023 then the best part of the first year was spent getting all necessary planning in place.” Less than 18 months later, they are about to open their doors for distillery tours.
The farm buildings have undergone quite the transformation. The tasting room, for example, was “full of farm equipment and really not been used for a long time,” says Sarah, “we took a big leap of faith in this project.”
Now, they will be able to host a coach tour of up to 50 people. “When they come here, they will meet Patrick and I and it will be a unique and bespoke experience,” explains Sarah, “I do love to talk! The one thing I miss about teaching is presenting a new idea or concept and seeing that lightbulb moment, so very early on I said to Patrick ‘if we are going to do tours there needs to be an activity for people to do’.”
“We know that lots of our previous visitors have contacted us and can’t wait to come and see us. We hope that people come and have a lovely time and enjoy the experience. And I hope our passion for the products comes through.”
Fourteen years on since starting that family project, Sarah notes: “We’ve got 24 products in our range, gin, rum, liqueurs and schnapps – which we launched 18 months ago. It’s the first craft schnapps in the UK. We do like to lead the way.”
In the Distillery shop, other local products can be found on the shelves, including Noor hand-poured soy candles and diffusers The Garden Pantry preserves. Across the way is the Distillery itself. “This is where the magic happens,” says Sarah. Beyond the shelf of botanicals, Patrick was busy doing a test run before the April 4 opening to the public for Distillery Tours.
Did she have a favourite product in the range? “It’s difficult to choose a favourite,” says Sarah. In the summer months it could be a the passionfruit gin or a pina colada, whereas on a cold, dark evening it could be a shot of dark rum.
“But what I will say is that if I was on a desert island and I could only take one thing, I would take the White Label Gin,” says Sarah, “but I would really hope Patrick could come as well and bring something else!”
Black Shuck Distillery Tours take place on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Distillery Tours in April are filling up and the dates are: Friday 4, Saturday 5, Thursday 10, Friday 11, Saturday 12, Thursday 17, Friday 18, Thursday 24, Friday 25 and Saturday 26 (On Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 they will be at Holkham Spring Market). Most tours start at 2pm, unless otherwise stated. Your visit will include: a look behind the scenes to see where the magic happens; an opportunity to sample spirits and liqueurs from the Black Shuck Collection; stories about Black Shuck, the legend and the business; a complimentary drink from the Black Shuck Bar; and an opportunity to make purchases from the Distillery shop. For large group bookings, events, etc please contact Sarah on 07867817618 or info@blackshuckltd.co.uk. Visit Black Shuck.
Featured images – supplied
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