From Merit Wine and Spirit Challenge – 1st November 2022
Gember Distillery is a real gem, and were awarded two Gold awards at the 2022 awards for their amazing gins. We were curious to find out more about this unique operation.
Please tell us your name, a bit about yourself, and your role in the company.
I am Simon Cranswick (CEO), a 56-year-old ex I.T. executive, bald, fairly large English-speaking South African (Engelsman) and my partner, Wynand de Vries (COO), a 31-year-old builder with a rich Afrikaans culture (Boerseun).
We both have a real sense of fun and humour to go with it, and we both love a good braai and a “jol”!
However, it is the third commonality of belonging to a small genetic pool known as gingers that really cemented our friendship.
We are highly driven entrepreneurs and have a passion for quality products and great service.
Please tell us when your company was founded and some of its history.
Gember Distillery opened for trading in February 2022, and the founder-owners Simon Cranswick (CEO) and Wynand de Vries (COO) are not only great friends but are also redheads – hence the name “Two Gingers”.
Our distillery is in Muizenberg, and we manufacture the Two Gingers Craft Gin range, which we have coined “Four Seasons in One Day” – something we can typically experience not only with the weather in Cape Town, but also with our fine range of craft gin.
We have realised that at our core we are selling customer experience (CX) and therefore everything we do has to have CX in the forefront of our processes – such as Product Development, Marketing, Packaging, Distribution, Customer and Supplier relationship management, and events such as tastings and festivals.
Our brand is personal and is executed in a way that garners an emotional attachment from the public at large.
Our tag line is “Still Talking” which is all about letting the Still do the Talking. Once you experience our gins, there is no doubt that you will enjoy yourself!
