DropWorks aims to triple growth in 2025
English distillery DropWorks is aiming to grow threefold in 2025 and become the preferred rum choice in the UK.
Established in 2023 by Lewis Hayes, Nottinghamshire-based DropWorks was created to ‘bring high-quality rum centre stage and into the spotlight’.
DropWorks has recently appointed Graham Appleyard as its new CEO and announced its goal to triple its growth by 2025, building on the company’s success achieved during its first 24 months of trading.
According to the distillery, DropWorks products are currently available in more than a third of the UK’s top cocktail bars.
The company aims to expand its presence by partnering with hundreds more premium venues and bars in the coming months.
Appleyard, a former marketing executive at Diageo, said: “Building a drinks brand to national and international heights is a very delicate operation, grounded firmly in how excellent the product is.
“We’re producing what I know is a truly unique and unprecedented British spirit, which takes the experience of drinking quality rum to a whole new level, so the stage is set for success. Now we are foot to the floor on the accelerator with quick and targeted growth.
“Our rum in all its various drops is being snapped up by some of the UK’s most well-known and exclusive bars as the thrilling ‘new kid on the block,’ with interest secured through a combination of Lewis’s long tenure both behind and leading world-class bars and our fresh, creative and bold branding.”
Appleyard plans to build the brand in the premium on-trade, before expanding into retail.
He continued: “We believe there is a huge opportunity on the table in the premium rum category, especially for our British-made product, which has been created purposefully for bartenders.
“We know there are so many bars, venues and consumers who are yet to discover DropWorks just waiting to be wowed by our range and we can’t wait to get in front of them and begin their British-distilled rum discovery.”
Behind the drop
Located in the heart of Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire, DropWorks Distillery is the ‘largest’ distillery of its kind in Europe, covering 17,000 square feet. It has the capacity to produce up to one and a half million bottles of rum each year and distils up to 10 barrels of rum per day.
The distillery features custom-made copper stills specifically designed for DropWorks’ production.
The team oversees every aspect of the process, from fermentation and distillation to ageing and bottling.
Hayes, founder and master distiller of DropWorks, commented: “It’s a joy to see what began as my scribbles on the back of a bar mat – simply a pure passion to find a quality rum that would come alive in the hands of bartenders – develop into a range of Drops with the potential to be the UK’s number one choice of rum.
“What we’ve made and continue to develop with our Clear Drop, Spice Drop, Dark Drop, Funk Drop, and Barrell Drop rums is a brand new arena for British-stamped cocktails.
“The aim has always been to create a rum for bartenders to have fun with, to blur the lines and craft new experiences for their customers – not sticking to the rule book but feeling free to invent new tastes and creations and explore what can be done with rum.
“This next chapter of our story will see that opportunity expand across the UK, with DropWorks about to be stocked in hundreds more venues and bars throughout the British Isles.”
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