November 2015

Dear Friends of Brokers Gin

BROKERS GIN NEWSLETTER
The 1st November 2015 marks the beginning of a
new era for Brokers Gin. As some readers will
know, Brokers Gin Limited has been the European
agent for the McCormick Distilling Company of
Missouri since 2002. The biggest-selling products
that we have represented across Europe are Tequila
Rose Strawberry Cream Liqueur and Platte Valley
Corn Whiskey.
Brokers Gin Limited and McCormick Distilling Company have recently completed a transaction
whereby Martin and Andy have sold their shares in Brokers Gin Limited to McCormick, who are
now 100% owners of the brand. After seventeen years of continuous growth in the sales of
Brokers Gin, Martin and Andy decided to sell the company in order to place Brokers Gin with a
new owner who could take the brand to even greater heights, especially in the important North
American market.

Martin and Andy and the other members of the Brokers Gin team will continue working on the
development of the brand, supporting McCormick in the USA and continuing to manage
activities across the rest of the world.
The team comprises, from left, Martin Dawson, Julia Gale, Peter Martin, Petronella von Wielligh
and Andy Dawson. They are shown here manning the stand at ProWein in Germany in March
2015.

In June Andy spent two weeks in

Massachusetts
and
Connecticut.
In
Massachusetts he worked with Carolina Wine
& Spirits, a division of the Martignetti
Companies. In Connecticut he worked with
Slocum & Sons. Andy went on the road with
excellent sales people in both states and
made numerous new sales in both off-premise
and on-premise accounts. Many thanks for all
the support he got from the two teams. Many
thanks also to Don Ulino of Hood River
Distillers who set the trip up. The photo on the
right shows the B&B where Andy spent the
weekend near Provincetown on Cape Cod.
On his drive from Cape Cod down to Connecticut Andy stopped at the beautiful Mystic Seaport.

The Charles W Morgan, the last remaining

wooden whaling ship in the world

Furling the sails

The following month Andy spent a week and a half on a road trip around Texas. He knows that
July is not the best time to visit Texas, weather-wise, but the trip tied in with his subsequent
attendance at Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans. His itinerary included Houston, Dallas,
Austin and San Antonio. He worked with Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC) and
Multicarte, who act as brokers for Brokers Gin in Texas.

Andy at Radio Milano Bar in Houston with

Christopher Morris, Lifecoach/Barman/Sommelier

Andy at Triniti Restaurant in Houston with

RNDCs Hawk Division on-premise team

No trip to Texas would be

complete without at least one
visit to a stadium. The team in
Dallas was of course very
pleased that Andy made it to
the Dallas Cowboys stadium!
Many thanks to everyone at
RNDC and Multicarte for a
very productive and enjoyable
visit to the Lone Star State.
The step up in depletions
arising from Andys trip is
visible in the numbers.
And then it was off to New Orleans for the mix-off of the third annual Brokers Bowler Cup at Tales of the
Cocktail. The event had been expertly set up by Keri Eliason and Olivia Barker of HRD together with
Laura Peet from the Smartfish creative agency. All Andy had to do was show up!
The four finalists from around the country were:
East - Adrian Misacango of Tessa in New York City, with La Flor de Tessa
West - April Simms of Velveteen Rabbit in Las Vegas, with Dill Me Baby
South - Brett Esler (defending champion) of Whislers in Austin, with An English Summer
Central - Jason Leinart of Sugar House in Detroit, with May Flowers

Andy with (from left) Adrian, April, Brett and Jason

Andy with the hostesses in the

Brokers Gin Tasting Room

Andy with Bernie Ralston of Select Brands,

Brokers Gins broker in Louisiana

The Brokers Gin Tasting Room at the Hotel Monteleone was again a riot of activity - the four
finalists mixing their cocktails in huge quantities, a band playing, literally hundreds of visitors
passing through, playing games, wearing bowler hats, tasting the cocktails and generally having
a fine old time. They know how to party in New Orleans!
The overall winner of the Brokers Bowler Cup was selected by crowd voting. All four cocktails
were excellent and it was a close call, but the peoples champion was April Simms with her
cocktail Dill Me Baby.

Visitors to the Brokers Gin Tasting Room enjoying the great old English game of darts.
Note the fans T-shirt - it looks like 5 oclock is party time!

Andy with Chris Schoennagel,

a long-time fan of Brokers Gin

Andy with Yira Vallejo,

an old friend from New York

The recipe for Dill Me Baby is:

2 oz Brokers Gin
oz lemon juice
oz sweet pepper syrup
oz Velvet Falernum
2 dashes bitters
Celery shrub
Dill sprig
Edible flowers
Shake all the ingredients with ice and double strain into a
cocktail glass. Garnish with a dill sprig and edible flowers.

Andy with peoples champion

April Simms

Andys last official call in New Orleans was to

Harrahs Hotel and Casino. Bernie Ralston
had recently placed Brokers Gin there as the
house gin. Andy was very pleased to be able
to meet and say thank you to the
management.
In the photo Andy is seen with Dale Harvey
(left) and Michael Tran.
We are sure that having a Brokers Gin in
hand will improve every visitors chances of
winning at the tables and machines.
Meanwhile over on the other side of the world, more Brokers Gin partying has been going on.
Our importer in Kazakhstan, Brig Limited, sent through the following photos from an event in
August at the Guns & Roses Bar in Aktau, Kazakhstan. Thank you very much.

Who says all the fun happens in New Orleans???

Not to be outdone, our agent in British Columbia, Stile Brands, sponsored a Luxury and
Supercar Weekend in Vancouver in September. Andys only complaint was that he wasnt there
to participate in the event. Maybe next year. Many thanks to Carmen DOnofrio and the team at
Stile Brands.

Not having the sunshine of Vancouver, the next Brokers Gin

event in the UK was held undercover. We participated in
London Cocktail Week in October, under the auspices of HiSpirits, our UK distributor. The Brokers Gin bar was built
onto the side of an iconic British vehicle, the Land Rover
Defender. The venue was Old Spitalfields Market in the City
of London. There has been a market on this site for over 350
years.
Andy is seen below with bartenders Lee (left) and Aled, who
offered visitors a selection of delicious Brokers Gin
cocktails.
Case sales of Brokers Gin in the UK so far this year are
running over 100% up on last year. Many thanks to HiSpirits for the stellar performance.

Meanwhile Peter has been our roving ambassador across Europe, making multiple visits to
Spain, Greece, Scandinavia and the Baltic states. Great things have been happening in all those
markets. Peter also attended the Cannes Duty Free Show in October on behalf of Brokers Gin.
We would like to welcome two new importers in South America - Prix in Mexico and Tres
Blasones in Argentina. In Europe we would like to welcome Arcus in Sweden.
And finally we would like to recommend a great new book called
101 Gins to Try Before You Die, by Ian Buxton. It is a fantastic book, not
just because it includes Brokers Gin, but because it is highly
informative, very readable and full of dry humour.

With best wishes

Martin

Andy

Martin Dawson
Brokers Gin Limited

Andy Dawson
Brokers Gin Limited