- The newest alcoholic tea brand in the market
- New gift packs for key shows
- A world first with the Assam Black Cold Brew Tea Liqueur
- A successful entrepreneurial journey through Covid
Following its successful ‘soft’ launch at some Christmas markets in Manchester in December 2020, and its web site shop launch in July this year, Birmingham based Whistler’s Storm continues to steam ahead with new, limited edition gift packs which will be available at forthcoming shows – The Festive Gift Fair at the NEC Birmingham (18th – 21st November, stand K69) and the Eat & Drink Festival Christmas show at Olympia, London (24th – 28th November, stand F647). The gift packs will contain miniature bottles of Whistler’s Storm cold brew Assam Black and Earl Grey tea liqueurs together with matching liqueur chocolates. Whistler’s Storm is the only independent British brand producing a cold brew Assam Black tea liqueur and research suggests this is a world first forthe UK.
Sales of both the Assam Back and Earl Grey tea liqueurs continue to rise with stocking achieved inIndependent bars and restaurants in the West Midlands. Whistler’s Storm now want to achieve wider stocking, particularly as the company is getting such good feedback from bar owners and mixologists, e.g., Dean Parkin, Mixologist at the British Oak, Birmingham says ‘ these products are amazing. It’s really great having the flavours in a liqueur form rather than making a tea based syrup and being forced to compromise between sweetness and flavour’. Direct customers are also impressed e.g., Amazon customer, Jonathan Herbert says ‘wasn’t sure what to expect from this drink given I’ve never tried anything like it before. However, safe to say it’s definitely surpassed my expectations. I tried it on the rocks, with Prosecco and lemonade and all three combinations were really easy to drink and tasted amazing, with the flavour of the tea really coming through’.
Young entrepreneur and founder, Dom Richardson comments ‘I still cannot believe I’ve done it – since the age of 17, when I first tried to start a business, I have been looking for opportunities, and having discovered the perfect one on a visit to India in December 2019, the Covid lock downs that followed gave me the time and head space to develop my idea of producing premium quality tea based liqueurs. So after 10 years, with 2 of them in development, I now have a brand and product to be proud of, and continue to be delighted with the growing demand and positive customer reviews’.
In developing the products Dom has also embraced a hobby – that of creating homemade liqueurs. Realising, on his return from India and undertaking some research, there was little opportunity in terms of importing and selling loose leaf tea, he ‘germinated’ the idea of developing a tea based liqueur, eventually establishing that the rich and aromatic Assam Black and zesty and delicious Earl Grey would be perfect. Having also found that there were few, if any competitors in the UK, Whistler’s Storm was born, selling 70cl, 20% ABV bottles of Assam Black and Earl Grey cold brew liqueurs.