The gin phenomenon has fuelled the success of a tiny deli.
Ginger Whale, based in Oxford Road, Gomersal, near Cleckheaton, struggled to get established until it hit on craft gins as its unique selling point.
And now Michelle Grainger-Mead and husband Peter have built a national reputation which has gin-lovers flocking from all over the country.
As soon as the shop gets a delivery of its latest must-have taste sensation – Parma Violet Gin – it’s sold out. There’s even a waiting list – and the distillers can’t make it quickly enough.
In all Ginger Whale, which also stocks craft ales and a wide range of mainly Yorkshire-made artisan foodstuffs, has 100 different kinds of gins.
Michelle, 48, is a former flavourist and now finds herself in demand as a consultant such is her knowledge and experience of the wealth of flavoured gins on the market.
Michelle said: “I don’t know what it is but gin is just a phenomenon and our business has taken off.
“We have customers all over Yorkshire who come to us, they come from as far as Harrogate or Skipton, and we have people who are maybe heading to Scotland who will make a detour just to come to our shop.
“We have a lot of customers from Huddersfield and half of Mirfield comes here, yet people in Gomersal don’t know about us.
“Some people get really excited when they come into the shop. We are a tiny little shop in the middle of nowhere but when they come in they go: ‘Oh my God! Have you seen this?’ They just can’t believe it.”
Parma Violet Gin, a sweet purple coloured tipple, is currently flavour of the moment.
“It’s gone viral,” said Michelle. “Everybody wants it now but we have been selling it for 16 months.
“We were either the first, or at least one of the first, to start stocking it so we have been with them since the start.
“We keep putting in orders but I can’t keep it on the shelves because they don’t make it fast enough.
“I have lists of orders from people who will phone up and pay in advance. We can’t keep up with the demand.
“The other weekend we had 60 bottles of Parma Violet Gin but around 100 people wanted it. I had to turn people away.
“We had another delivery on Thursday of 60 bottles and by Thursday night they were gone.”
Michelle holds regular gin tasting events which sell out in days.
“We hold them every six weeks and it was literally sold out within a week. People were clambering over themselves. That’s the gin phenomena.”
Business hasn’t always been booming for Michelle and Peter, 53.
The shop has been open for almost two years now but the first year was a near disaster for many reasons.
Peter had been laid off work and the couple looked round the former sandwich shop at 2pm one afternoon – and had agreed to buy it an hour later.
They bought it on a whim and the first 12 months in business was horrendous.
“A hole literally opened up in the centre of Gomersal and we were literally cut off, taking just £20 a day,” said Michelle.
“Then we had water problems and power cuts and we thought the gods were plotting against us. But last year it started picking up.”
These days Michelle, who also has a coffee shop within Ginger Whale, is always looking out for the unusual or quirky.
“We like to get things outside of the box,” she said. “We’ve had Christmas Pudding Gin, a four course dinner chocolate from a chocolatier in Pickering, water tapped from birch trees and Peking duck nuts. People love weird. Anything strange and they lap it up.”
Michelle seems to have tapped into the secret of success and gin distillers now turn to her for advice.
“I suggested a raspberry gin to one and two weeks later they had launched it,” she said.
Food producers and bakers also come to her. “I tell them to put gin in everything,” she laughs.
Welsh-born Michelle only has three or four tables in her coffee shop but she supports local producers as much as possible and serves coffee from Bean Brothers in Huddersfield.
Her next idea could be a Yorkshire tapez, a cross between a Greek meze and a Spanish tapas. You read it here first.
Michelle’s secret is keen pricing. She says she charges £24.95 for gin that most sell for £30.
“We don’t rip people off,” she said. “We try to offer the best quality for the best price. That’s our motto.”
