Paul Walton takes pride in having an entrepreneurial spirit since he was selling stickers to his classmates in kindergarten.
Since then, he has helped start multiple businesses, but he takes particular pride in starting the premium craft gin brand Saint Juniper, as his interest in the gin business was fuelled in part by his fascination with flavour. We talked to Paul to learn more about his business journey with Saint Juniper and how he was able to build and grow the venture from the ground up.
IFMCG: What inspired you to turn your love for wines into a business – and why a gin business?
PW: I started Secret Bottle, a wine subscription business, about 10 years ago and ran this as a side project for many years until 2020, when it became a little more than just a side project. During the Covid years, we evolved the business to sell spirits and then started Drinks With Dave, a virtual tasting experience where we hosted over 18,000 virtual wine, spirits and beer tastings with most of Australia’s largest companies. Through hosting these wine and spirit tastings, I really started to understand what styles and flavours resonated most with people. The inspiration to start my own brand came both as passion and necessity. I had a good understanding of what people wanted and what I enjoyed most, and I needed to find a new revenue stream to make up for the decline in virtual tastings after the lockdowns ended. Gin was the obvious answer for me as it gives endless opportunities and creativity with the flavours we can produce, but also, I felt there was a bit of a gap in the market in how we branded and positioned the product.
What led you to ultimately decide on starting your distillery from scratch rather than buying an existing one?
The plan initially was to invest in a distillery that was on the market at the time, and a lot of effort was put into this deal, which ultimately fell through. This was a good business with a lot of growth opportunities, but the brand was not resonating with me, and the flavour profile of the gins was not as refined as I would have liked. With this in mind, I started mapping out a new brand whilst negotiating the acquisition, and the further we went along the process, the more I realised I was going to be in a better position by starting from the ground up.
Why was it important for you to take the time to learn everything as a distillery business owner — including branding and marketing?
Having a good understanding of all the elements of the business allows me to make better decisions when outsourcing or delegating, but ultimately, my passion in the business lies in all areas. Learning to distil was essential in understanding how to compose the flavours that I felt were going to work best and develop an award-winning product. The branding and marketing came naturally to me through my experience in past businesses. It’s something that I needed to develop alongside creating the gin, as I feel they go hand in hand. The flavour profiles of the gin, design aesthetic and philosophy are all part of what makes the Saint Juniper brand and needed to be crafted together.
What do the multiple awards won by your distillery mean to you and your business?
PW: We entered a couple of competitions within the first month for developing our first recipes, with the purpose of getting feedback to help with the development of the gin and ended up with a number of gold medals, which were a very pleasant surprise. These first awards provided us with recognition, which in turn allowed us to demonstrate trust to the market, and valuable feedback that helped us shape the recipes further, which led us to winning the Australian Spirit of the Year and equally highest rated gin globally at the London Spirits Competition this year.
What’s next for Saint Juniper?
Our fifth gin is on the horizon and ready to be launched. This is an exciting one for me as it has the same qualities as our Mediterranean gin, which is our most popular, but with more versatility in mind for cocktails. It will also be the first gin that we will be launching as an export into the US market early next year.
If there is one piece of advice you can impart to an aspiring entrepreneur who dreams of business success, what would it be?
Building a great product is important, but it’s only half the battle. Your focus needs to be on building a great brand, understanding your values and creating something that your customers aspire to be a part of.
- This story was originally published on Inside Small Business.
