The promise of “sunshine in a bottle” is the tantalising ethos underpinning the success of Lakes Limoncello.
Made on site at Keswick’s Bank Street-based Wild Sheep Distillery by James and Jo McIntyre, of Kirkby Thore, the limoncello comes from an authentic Italian recipe.
“It was taught to us by an Italian,” said James, “and people have told us that it is the best they have tasted – even from Italy, as well. I think that is because they may have been trying preserved ones. We couldn’t find many good limoncellos, especially what is termed a fresh limoncello.
James explained that their limoncello doesn’t need any preservatives or anything else like that. “It’s fresh. That is how we get the colour that we do – it is all natural ingredients,” he said.
The traditional way of serving limoncello is direct from a freezer to be served after a meal, but it is also gaining a lot of popularity for use in cocktails in bars, often served with prosecco, a bit like a spritzer.
James and Jo have been on quite a journey to get to where they are now. They first arrived in Keswick in 2012 as market traders, selling clothing under the brand name Sheep-ish, which started life as a one off sheep logo designed by James and Jo for their range of hand printed T-shirts and mugs.
Eight years ago they opened a shop in town, initially as an outlet for their clothing range, but following discussions about whether they had ever considered having a Sheep-ish beer, a new avenue opened up for them.
James said: “We were asked if we had ever considered getting ourselves a branded beer made. We thought because our clothing was quite quirky that it would probably work.
“We got all the licences in place to sell Sheep-ish beer and that started to get more and more popular. We had quite a good little beer corner, we called it.
“Then we wanted to add to that with other local spirit brands, but the ones we wanted we couldn’t stock because they were already supplying other shops in town. So we thought, let’s have a go at making our own.”
James and Jo had always had an interest in distilling and enjoyed going on distillery tours, but they had to start from scratch when it came to starting up their own distillery.
“We use Lake District water and we are really lucky with where we live. As everybody knows, the water is great quality around here,” said James.
He said they make things that they like and hope that their customers will like them too, but they have taken the decision to not supply any pubs.
“Part of what makes us really unique is we don’t wholesale at all, we just sell direct ourselves from the shop, market stall or from the website.
“The reason we do that is that it gives us time with our customers and stops things just spiralling out of control,” said James.
Limoncello is their latest product, but they are also building up a good customer base for their London dry gins and botanical rums and their blended whiskies, which they are starting to do more of this year.
All their spirits are made in small batches, about 20 to 30 litres at a time.
“We are happy to stay at the size we are. We don’t want to lose that personal family edge,” said James. “Keswick is really fortunate that it has a changing footfall with different people every week. It is a fantastic location for any artisan business.
“We have built up a few good friendships. People we met as customers when we were doing the clothing are now among our best friends.
“People come to the area and they love it and they are really keen to form an attachment with the area. You can strike up some really good friendships with people that come back year after year.”
