Craft distillery numbers are on the rise in the UK, with more Brits than ever looking for local when shopping the spirits aisle. Continuing its commitment to British suppliers, Aldi is launching ‘Grow with Aldi’, a grass roots spirits competition to support small distillers in the UK.
Launching today, ‘Grow with Aldi’ encourages local, craft distillers to enter their best spirit with the winning bottle to take pride of place on Aldi’s shelves this Summer.
The entries will be judged by Aldi’s expert panel of buyers with the help of spirits expert, TV Mixologist and Sunday Brunch regular Pritesh Mody, who recently launched a foray of products with World of Zing.
Entries will close on 5th April, with the lucky winner announced in June and the final product hitting British Aldi supermarkets in Summer 2021.
Being included in Aldi’s award-winning wines and spirits line-up will offer a fantastic opportunity for a local craft distillery to reach consumers on a national scale. The retailer has also offered support for the bottling process, helping smaller distilleries to produce enough to cater nationally.
The supermarket’s commitment to British suppliers recently saw it save over 25,000 gallons of beer by buying excess stock from breweries that would have gone to waste. Aldi supported 13 breweries by buying stock that would otherwise have gone to waste due to a surplus created by lockdown and the closure of the UK’s hospitality outlets.
Pritesh Mody, spirits expert and TV mixologist, comments: “There are so many amazing craft distilleries across the UK. Together with Aldi I am really looking forward to uncovering fresh talent in the UK’s thriving drinks sector. I’d urge any producer, from Perth to Penzance, large or small, to send their prized tipples our way to be in with a chance to take their business to the next level.”
Julie Ashfield, managing director of buying at Aldi UK, comments: “We are incredibly excited to launch this new initiative to support local UK distilleries. We can’t wait to unearth the UK’s hidden spirits gems and see what new and unique products come forward. Aldi is committed to supporting British producers, whether large or small, and we’ve pledged to buy an additional £3.5bn more British food and drink products per year by 2025. We’re pleased to be able to offer the Aldi platform to showcase such exciting, homegrown products.”
Alan Powell, Founder of British Distillers Alliance says: “The BDA has supported and represented the small independent spirits sector since July 2016 and we have seen the phenomenal growth of distillers in all spirits types with no let-up, even during Covid! It’s very encouraging and exciting that Aldi, a major retailer, is championing the cause of small spirits producers in this way.”
To enter all you have to do is email the below entry form to growwithaldi@clarioncomms.co.uk explaining in no more than 300 words why you would like to be stocked at Aldi.
Full T&Cs are available at www.aldi.co.uk/grow-with-aldi.
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