Silverstone Distillery celebrates the life of Burt Mason with a custom gin.
Today would’ve been Burt Mason’s birthday. Sadly he passed away last June and originally Vera (Burt’s wife) and her daughter Carol Mason (a well known Silverstone resident), were going to celebrate his special day by coming along to a gin school at our distillery. However, Covid had other ideas and sadly all classes had to be postponed.
Knowing that Vera and Carol couldn’t create a bottle of their own gin with us to mark the occasion, we took matters into our own hands! We approached Carol to surprise Vera with a completely custom-made bottle of gin and as a result, we were honoured to create ‘Burt’s G and Tee’, a true celebration of Burt’s life.
The gin was a custom rhubarb blend and the label design contained a whole raft of hidden meanings to explore and cherish but most of all, Vera was thrilled to have something special to raise a glass to her remarkable husband with.
We asked Carol for a few words from her to include in our blog coverage and she had this to say of the experience:
“ ‘Firsts’ are always difficult after the loss of a loved one so I decided as we are both confirmed ‘Ginaholics’ a suitable distraction for my Mum and me might be to attend Silverstone Distillery’s Gin School. As the date of what would have been Dad’s birthday loomed closer, it became apparent that Covid was going to ruin my plans and, although I knew what was coming, when I received the email confirming the inevitable postponement, my heart sank.
However, aware of the significance of the date, Steve Hancock, the Distillery’s owner contacted me with an idea to produce a commemorative bottle for my Mum, who has been particularly badly hit by Dad’s passing having been with him almost as long as HM The Queen had been married to HRH The Duke of Edinburgh. I didn’t need asking twice and working with Creative Director (AKA Genius) Ajay and Marketing Manager Emma to produce a bespoke label for Mum’s special gin gave me something to focus on in the lead up to a day I had been dreading - even though the first draft of the label moved me to tears!
On the day itself, I told Mum of my original plan that I couldn’t carry through because of the Covid restrictions but told her the Distillery had been kind enough to suggest she might like to have a quick look around instead. She had absolutely no idea what was in store and was so delighted to find herself ‘ambushed’ by the presentation of this extremely special bottle of gin that she was most uncharacteristically lost for words!
Thanks to Steve's thoughtfulness, Ajay’s creative genius and Emma’s diligence in ensuring everything was absolutely perfect, what could so easily have been a really horrible day, was turned on it’s head and when Joe joined in to complete the full complement of Directors, became a day to remember for different reasons. Plus - we still have Gin School to look forward to!"
If you have a custom project in mind and want to create your very own spirit to mark the occasion, just let us know! We're happy to help.