At the beginning of 2023, they decided to plan 23 adventures for the year. One of them was ‘explore setting up a gin distillery’ alongside other less ambitious ones like climb a mountain, and a month of Random Acts of Kindness. Each adventure was allocated to a month, and exploring the gin distillery was marked for March. They undertook a lot of research, such as meeting with a local historian to help with elements of the label design, identified target markets and gathered feedback from them, and did a walking tour of gardens in Rhosneigr to help inform what botanicals to choose. From the beginning Helen and Kirsty  wanted sales from the gin to benefit the community.

They soon realised setting up an actual distillery was a challenge too far but we found a local distiller based on Anglesey who we would work closely with. They explained what we’d learned and their vision for a community gin, and he is helping bring it to life, as their distiller. The amazing local artist Janet Bell is supporting them by generously contributing her artwork of Rhosneigr for the label.

On the gin bottle is the phrase ‘Created From Our Community’, as Kirsty and Helen are supported by a group of eighteen women, who help with the recipes for the gin, the design of the bottle, and contributions to the community. Lucy Covell is part of the group, and she designed the label, another knitter, Sarah Doerksen, who is a Global Advisor for The Kings Trust International (formerly the Prince’s Trust) is helping with community development and contribution, using a process developed by IDEO.