ABOUT US
Based in rural Kent, two friends decided to progress their passion for brewing and take it to the next level - distilling.
It's been a bumpy road, particularly with lockdown taking place right in the middle of our licence application, but we've come out the other side with a gin, which we think is rather good. Don't take our word for it. Try some yourself!
So, just who are we ?...
Meet James
As an engineer by trade, he has worked on some major installations up and down the country, as well as many poplular TV shows, films and events. Some of his work has even gone beyond these shores.
Making sure Seiðr and the rest of the distillery are in good shape is second nature.
Without even realising, it's more than likely that you've laid eyes on some of the work James was involved in, prior to opening the distillery.
James is also responsible for creating the life-sized sculpted metal stags head, which adorns the distillery wall and inspired our first label.
Meet Lee
Lees is a proud (but exhausted) parent and husband. An artist, jewellery designer, silver & goldsmith by trade, having spent many years in Hatton Garden.
However, for the past 12 years, Lee has worked in London and Kent teaching children with special education and mental health needs. Despite the challenging nature of the job, he has always found it extremely rewarding and loves the environment.
Setting up successful art and finance departments, at various schools, provided excelent practice for achieving a full distillery licence, allowing us to create spirits from scratch, which is really exciting. This allows us to keep brewing from produce, such as grain, fruit or mollases and turn these in to delicious new products. Most distilleries can't do this.
The Distillery
Within an area of outstanding natural beauty, sitting in an old Victorian coach house (which we lovingly restored) is our traditional copper pot-still, 'Seiðr'. In it we blend a well balanced selection of botanicals to produce our signature London Dry Gin.
The enviroment, in which we are fortunate enough to live in, directly influences how we do things here, at Invoke.
If you're interested in our journey, please take a look at our instagram @invokedistillery
Seiðr (our still)
The star of the show
Named after a type of Norse magic, Seiðr is thought to have been considered an extention of the mind and it's faculties. It was also closely linked with the summoning of spirits and perhaps even 'sorcery'.
Etymologically it seems to belong to a group of Indo-European words with connotations of 'binding' or 'weaving', much like we do with our botanicals.
We thought this, as well as our love of history, mysticism and theatrics, would make for a rather clever metaphor and our traditional copper pot-still finally got her name.
Our Vision
With both of us being avid cooks and brewers, blending botanicals to create a spirit felt like a natural progression. Our passion for playing with different flavours has delivered us to where we are now.
We aim to continue on this journey, creating a range of spirits over the next few years, utilising many of our surrounding Kentish resources and flavours, further fulfilling our passion for craft distilling.
Keep your eyes peeled for the release of our Navy Strength Gin, in the not too distant future and a spiced rum, next year.
CONTACT
If you'd like to work with us, stock our gin, or simply have a query, please don't hesitate to get in touch.
