While we’re encouraged to stay at home, cocktail delivery is just the ticket to see us through the winter.
A popular Aberdeen cocktail bar is now offering to deliver drinks to customers across the UK.
Dusk Bar on Langstane Place operated a local cocktail delivery service throughout the initial lockdown period but has since been working on a number of services to be able to offer their handcrafted drinks across a range of different channels.
Available to purchase directly from the firm’s website, customers can have drinks including a Negroni, Mai Tai, Cosmopolitan, a Bramble and more delivered straight to their doors within two days.
Packaged in glass bottles, each cocktail boasts two servings and all of the packaging is fully recyclable. A range of other drinks including wine, beer and cider are also available to order online.
Craig Donald, assistant general manager at the bar, said: “Dusk away from Dusk was a concept that’s been part of the business for a good few years now, catering for private parties with our portable bar and handcrafted cocktails. With the current circumstances we have had to adapt to be able to survive as a small independent business in these uncertain times.
“During the first national lockdown we began by using the venue and the social media accounts to provide a platform for the staff to make and distribute cocktails for delivery from which the profits then went back into a fund to secure our employees’ jobs.
“This time round we wanted to go bigger and better. We started with the idea of curating a classic cocktail menu of fun, tasty, well-known drinks that our customers could enjoy from the comfort of their own home.”
And it wasn’t just the drinks the staff were involved in developing, they also helped in designing the label for bottled cocktails and with photography to promote the offering.
He added: “Myself and Dan Nicol (general manager) worked on the logistics of turning our business effectively into an off-licensed distribution space with the support of our business owners. We recently made that bigger leap into thinking about how we can make the cocktail delivery service bigger and better than ever.
“With members of our bar staff providing the designs for menus, bottle stickers and photography we moved forward into collecting content together with the aspiration to take the delivery options to a national level.
“We collaborated with Stuart Taylor a local photographer to produce some promotional content and in turn, support other local business in our area while making an exciting and eye-catching promotional video.”
Working with other local creatives, Craig says the help from digital marketing firm Sketch Social has helped promote the business to a wider audience and get it in front of new customers, too.
“We also began working with Megan and Hannah from Sketch Social a new, small, independent marketing company based out of Aberdeen. They have helped us a lot with the development and exposure of the new areas of the business and have provided an amazing service throughout the launch of this new chapter.
“They themselves have been running a campaign called #NoLastOrders where they have committed to 20 hours a week of services free of charge for independent business from now till Christmas to help people survive through the struggles that Covid-19 has imposed.”
Local delivery and collection will also still be available, with customers living within the north-east able to pick up orders at dedicated times.
As well as cocktail delivery, Dusk will also run online cocktail mixology classes and will establish its online store to offer a range of spirits from its sister business Deeside Distillery which creates Still River gin, Devil’s Point rum and Deeside Distillery Founder’s Reserve whisky.
“We will be constantly looking to adapt and expand this new area of the business, with online mixology classes and sales of bottled spirits, including products from our partners at Deeside Distillery and local brands being made available in the future,” said Craig.
“We are hopeful that with the current state of affairs that this general vibe of ‘supporting your local scene’ continues and we will strive as one of those local business to try and keep things exciting and to a high quality.
“The most important thing to us is making sure that our staff and the people we would have been welcoming through our doors stay safe but also have a good time while doing so, and has been so since the start of this situation and it will continue to be so.
“At the end of the day, the only thing that’s better than enjoying a cocktail at the bar, is enjoying the cocktail from the bar at home.”
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