Dundee-based Verdant Spirits is to be liquidated after getting into financial difficulties in the wake of Brexit and the Covid-19 outbreak.
The gin producer, which was founded in 2014, had been on an upward trajectory prior to the pandemic. Its Verdant Gin was crowned Gin of the Year at the inaugural Scottish Gin Awards in 2017 and the distiller was named sole gin supplier to the House of Commons two years after that.
The business was close to securing a £250,000 investment to open a visitor centre and gin school as part of an ambitious project to restore its historic Edward Street Mill site in Dundee when coronavirus came along. A switch to producing hand sanitiser helped Verdant struggle through lockdown then demand for handrub dwindled.
Speaking to The Courier, Verdant Spirits founder Andrew Mackenzie said he personally stands to lose £200,000.
“It’s a sad day and of course losing £200,000 is something nobody wants to do,” said Andrew. “It’s a real shame as we currently have £36,000 of unfulfilled orders. There will be an auction, probably at the distillery, of the equipment. Then that money will go towards paying creditors and the business will just be wound up.
With debts in the region of £25,000, Andrew said he’s spent the last six months going down every possible avenue to find a solution to the cashflow crisis.
He said: “It’s a terrific product in a great site but we just don’t have the cash to get through. It will be a few weeks before the liquidation becomes firm so if anybody out there wants to get involved, please get in contact.”
