Aberdeenshire gin firm co-owner Rich Pierce and his family spent a weekend making their very own gin bar igloo.
The trio, which included Rich’s wife Magda and his six-year-old son Charlie, worked on the “impromptu” project at their home in Aboyne for three days before getting to enjoy it.
While Rich and Magda toasted the saga with a sample of his firm Lost Loch Spirit‘s Eenoo gin. However, their son Charlie celebrated by giving up half an hour into the build.
The local businessman is the co-owner of distillery and gin school Lost Loch Spirits which is based at Deeside Activity Park in Aboyne.
He said: “We don’t really know whose idea it was to do a gin bar igloo – it was all very impromptu. I had been at the distillery first thing Saturday morning working away and came back to find my wife Magda and my six-year-old son Charlie making huge piles of snow. Me being me I told her she was doing it all wrong and we just randomly decided to make an igloo.
“It was something alternative and is a properly engineered igloo, to say the least. A lot of effort went into it. It took forever to make. I think it was around three days! I was completely broken after it, I think we both were. Our wee one lost interest in it about half an hour in so we just carried on. We were both pretty sore after and needed plenty of gin to soothe the pain.”
Kitted out
With chairs and a table, not to mention various bottles of gin, the icy creation was decorated with tinkling fairy lights which Rich says “finished it off perfectly”.
“The fairy lights were my wife’s idea and are an excellent touch. There was also a bottle of Lost Loch Spirits’ Eenoo gin and we did have a sample of it when we had finally finished,” said Rich.
“The gin bar is still there but I reckon it is more ice than snow, but it is looking a bit sorry for itself now that the weather has changed a bit.
“There’s also a wall with ‘gin bar’ painted on it and we’ve added the sparkly lights for extra impact to cheer ourselves and our neighbours too. We had a socially-distanced drink with the neighbours to celebrate and it seems to be going down well. As you can tell we’re pretty chuffed with how it turned out.”
For more food and drink news…
North-east couple cook up a storm for lifeboat heroes after dramatic rescue
Four food and drink firms in the north bag accolades at the Scottish Enterprise Awards
