The Orchard Gin Company’s story is an inspiring tale of how a personal passion grew from a kitchen table enterprise into a thriving brand. Entrepreneur Hannah Wardle gave up her career in graphic design to pursue her vision of reviving traditional damson gin. Beginning quite literally in her kitchen and with support from her family including dad Charles, Hannah began distilling traditional hedgerow-inspired gins flavoured with wild damsons, elderflower and rhubarb. Now running at full capacity, the business is putting the foundations in place for its first major expansion.
As a traditional, artisan product, Hannah had a clear vision for the way her gins should be packaged and the use of traditional sealing wax on her bottles was high on the list. Starting small, every bottle was sealed by hand using baked bean cans filled with hot wax – but the ‘homemade’ look didn’t match Hannah’s expectations for her luxury product. The wax was drying with a layer of bubbles and after many puzzled looks, phone calls, and internet searches, a discovery was made. The bubbles were caused by escaping air from the natural cork, so to solve this, Hannah changed to synthetic corks. The next challenge was getting the wax open as Hannah explains: “We were using filament tape which was such a hassle. It had to be measured and then cut to size which was a time-consuming manual process, and then the tape would stick to the cutting boards. It was a complete nightmare, but without the strips our customers would be using their nails or a knife to break into the bottle. I felt that if you couldn’t give it to someone to take to a party – and it be ready to go – then its worthless!”
Signet’s expertise made for a simple solution to the Wardle family’s dilemma. Our standard black tear strips are non-stretch with adhesive already on the back and an ingenious ‘dry tab’ at the end of the strip meaning that once this has been stuck onto the bottle neck and wax dipped, the dry tag doesn’t lie completely flat. The strong black ribbon cuts effortlessly through the dry wax, leaving a neat border that allows the cork to be pulled free.
The Orchard Gin Company now has a beautiful and distinctive yet practical method for sealing their bottles, and all headaches previously experienced have been eradicated. In addition, the strips allow optimal ease of use and a streamlined production process.
Hannah reflected: We really had tried everything; we wanted the wax but couldn’t find a solution – and we couldn’t give a bottle to someone that they couldn’t even open! The tear strips gave us the opportunity to stay with a sealing method that was so important to us and our brand.
“The quality is brilliant. The material is what makes it – the strength means there is no stretch, which is important when cutting through hard wax. Buying the complete roll of tear strips seemed daunting at first, but the ease of process and production was more important. The aesthetics are incredibly important to me and I understood how to set the price of the gin to cover the small extra costs.
“My advice to anybody would be to get hold of some samples. They are completely invaluable especially when you’re buying from a distance and want to try them out.”
We’re so happy we persevered with our goal in mind and found Signet!
