The spirit of entrepreneurship is alive and well with a former oil and gas worker who is hoping to launch his own distillery.
Neil Sime worked as a contractor for a decade but last year, amid the North Sea industry’s worst ever crisis, he decided the time was right to leave the sector behind.
Now the 38-year-old, in partnership with his wife Katie and parents Keith and Katy, hope to launch Blackford Craft Distillery Ltd, their own botanical vodka business.
The family have applied to transform the 200-year-old steadings adjacent to their Rothienorman home into a distillery to produce their own creation, Vesperis.
Last night, Mr Sime said it had been a dream of theirs for a number of years. “A few years ago we spoke about starting a brewery but at the time we were both busy working,” she said.
“We spoke to a few people and they said there was a gap in the market for vodka. There’s a lot of people doing gin and rum in Aberdeenshire just now but this is hopefully something unique.
“We’ve taken a lot of inspiration from the Picts, the arrow and V-rod will be on the label which they believed was a calendar to track the seasons.
“The vodka is going to be heather and honey-flavoured like an ancient mead; it ties to the local area with the Pictish stones.”
Mr Sime, who has two young children, has spent the past six months learning the skills needed to operate a still. This week the family take delivery of a 500litre iStill, an innovative device for making spirits.
He said: “It’s been a really steep learning curve, there’s been a lot of red tape to get through.
“At the moment we’re working with the Dornoch Distillery to get our first batch ready. We should hopefully be ready to launch our first products in July, the first run will be personalised for each customer.”
The Simes have applied for a change of use application for their steadings.
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