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Rescue pugs inspire Christine to create Three Pugs Gin

Love dogs? Love Gin? We have two bottles of 3 Pugs Gin to give away!

Christine and Stephen Ditchfield combined their two great loves – pugs and gin – into a dream business – Three Pugs Gin!

I spotted their bottles in Bowden’s Bistro, a restaurant and gin bar in Lymm where we live.
It turns out they live just down the road from us in Warrington, Cheshire so I went along to meet them and their gorgeous doggies to find out more!
And as well as chatting to us, they kindly donated a bottle of gin for a lucky reader to WIN!
To enter simply leave a comment at the bottom of this post or on our Facebook page about why you’d love a chance to try 3 Pugs Gin .

Gorgeous pups Pepsi, Tutu and Mojo who inspired 3 Pugs Gin!
Gorgeous pups Pepsi, Tutu and Mojo who inspired 3 Pugs Gin!

So how did the idea for 3 Pugs Gin come about?

I’d collected gins for many years and I have hundreds of bottles in a cabinet at home (I can vouch for this having visited Christine!)
My husband Stephen and I are huge gin enthusiasts and I’d always dreamed of making my own.
A few years ago, we went on a gin school experience day to Burleighs Gin Distillery in Loughborough.
You learn how gin is made and go in a training room where you choose your own botanicals and make your own gin to take home.

Christine and Stephen Ditchfield who created 3 Pugs Gin
3 Pugs Gin makers Christine and Stephen Ditchfield and their pugs © Warrington Guardian

So it inspired you to turn it into a business?

Yes, I absolutely loved it and decided to do it myself – it’s been three years in the making.
Stephen built a workshop in the garden and we ordered a mini still which is a copper distilling unit used to make the gin.
We then applied to our local council for a licence to make our own gin last October and that’s how it began.
Forest Gin supported us and gave a lot of advice in the beginning and our friends and family love us making gin so there’s never any shortage of offers of people to test it.

And the name?

It’s named after our three pugs, Pepsi, Tutu and Mojo and their faces are on the bottles and all our branding.
The ‘drunken’ slanting bottle is something a little different which we think stands out when you look at a selection of gins on the shelf.
We love our dogs and we love gin, so it combined our two passions. My nephew drew the logo and it captures their cheeky, adorable nature.
It’s nice to be able to support dog charities. We sponsored PugFest and we donate to French Bulldog and Pug Rescue.
We rescued Mojo two years ago from a puppy farm. She’d never even left her crate.
Making the gin means I can work from home and be with the dogs who inspired the business.

The 'drunken' slanting bottles and cute pugs make Christine's gin stand out!
The ‘drunken’ slanting bottles and cute pugs make the gin stand out!

What did you do before making gin?

I have a dog grooming business and Stephen is an engineer but we dream of running 3 Pugs Gin full time one day.
So we finish our day jobs then start making gin! We love it though. The world of gin is like Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory but for adults.
I’ve always wanted to have my own business doing something I’m very passionate about.
When the gin idea started to come to fruition I knew it was what I’d craved all my life.

What’s next for 3 Pugs Gin?

We are really thrilled to be stocked in Selfridges, this only happened this week and I still have to pinch myself sometimes.
A lot of local bars, restaurants and farm shops in Cheshire stock our gins and we’ve been very well supported by Hammonds of Knutsford, our distributors.
The blackcurrant flavour is new this year and we are thinking of creating another blend and it’s lovely to have such great feedback on what we’ve created.
Our customers range from dog lovers who like the name and the dogs, to gin enthusiasts who want to try something different.
People think it’s a novelty at first but then realise it’s a really good gin and we’re very proud of that!
We’re also supporting other people who are starting out making their own gins.
It’s good to give something back to the gin making community.

What advice do you have for other people who are inspired by their dogs to start a business like you?

Research your business and make sure you have any relevant licences from the council and HMRC of course!
Get as much support as you can from people already in your industry as we did with Forest gin, people usually want to help you.
Finally, be brave and follow your dream. I know some people must have thought I’d gone mad when I said I was making my own gin and naming it after my dogs!
But I’m the happiest I’ve ever been!

We have a bottle of Signature London Dry Gin and a bottle of Blackcurrant Premium Gin to give away. Simply leave a comment below or on our Facebook page to enter.

COMPETITION RULES

The competition is open to people aged 18 or over and living in the UK.
Entries close on Wednesday December 6th.
The winner will be chosen at random and announced on our social media channels. They will be informed via e mail within 48 hours of the competition closing.
They will have seven days to claim their prize and provide details of the trousers they require, size and address.
The prize will be despatched to the winners via UK mail service Recorded Delivery. We will not be liable for any prize which is lost, delayed, or damaged in the post for reasons beyond our reasonable control.

23 Responses

  1. I love my gin and im always wanting to explore more and more varieties and brands.
    I’ve heard great things about 3 Pugs gin. I would love to try for myself. My wife would be delighted too.
    Would be the perfect Christmas gift as my wife and I are also massive Pug Lovers. We have two called Bertie & Jasper.

  2. We are gin lovers to the maximum!
    Right now we got like 200 gins in our collection and we review every bottle!
    We would love to write something about the 3pugs gin!
    They look so cute (the pugs and the couple behind it).
    They are doing some fantastic things!

    We from Belgium, we love it!

    Cheers!

  3. We’re hosting the Christmas Day luncheon this year & I would like to offer everyone some of the amazing blackcurrant gin to make the party more excellent. Fingers crossed that I’m lucky, and thanx for the concept of this ace drink. Kerry

  4. Combining the two things I love the most dogs and gin! Also very excited to here about 3 pugs gin as it’s localish to me and I didn’t know about it, can’t wait to tell my friends!

    1. Thanks Lulu, I felt the same when I saw it which is why I had to contact them and write about it! Thanks for commenting. I live in Warrington too – you must give it a try if you see it when you’re out and about. I know they have it in the Brewery Tap and Bowden’s Bistro in Lymm and some of the bars in Warrington too.

  5. I’m always so excited about a new brand of gin I haven’t tried! All of my housemates are big gin fans too so it’d be the perfect pre Christmas treat to share a bottle with them. A brand that combines two fantastic things: gin and dogs… what could be better.

  6. I discovered 3 Pugs Gin a couple of months ago when Christine was selling it at a stall at a conference I was at in Warrington. I absolutely love gin and collect all the bottles myself. I talked to her about wanted to distill my own and she told me to go for it. I certainly will!!! I need to sample some more first though! I have to say, 3 Pugs has definitely been one of the nicest gins I’ve tried (and I have tried a fair few!!). To be honest, I drank that quicker than any of the others and my hubby even loved it! (He’s more of a craft beer kinda guy!). I would absolutely love to win another bottle as my first went down way to quickly! Yummy!

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