Words from a 5 year old

“we are an ideas company that make jeans” 

I remember reading these words back in 2014

I also remember stealing them

I think it was my most important heist

& a phrase that would come to lay the very foundations for Seedlip

[I was very fortunate to meet David Hieatt, admit my theft & say my thank yous]

You see, Seedlip is a nature company that makes drinks.

This phrase has served us well in everything from our ingredients sourcing & selection to our interview questions

running through our veins internally as our cultural north star 

& externally in how we have brought Seedlip to life.

It’s why our heroes are actually very unsexy things like IDEONELLA SAKAIENSIS 201-F6, Soil, Mycelium & Carbon [don’t google ‘Ideonella’ just yet please]

But

we have been shackled

restricted

A self-imposed silence 

We have not been able to really say what we wanted or speak openly & freely 

We’ve been doing another job.

Highlighting a need

Starting a category

Educating the industry & the public

& flipping hundreds of years of existing beliefs on their heads about what a spirit & a cocktail can be.

We’ve done it from my kitchen, from scratch & amidst the naysayers & those who told me we would never sell a bottle.

I am very proud that as a team we have resolutely stuck to doing what was needed for the category, the industry & our audience.

The 37 countries Seedlip is available in and over 125 products now in this space, are to me, the biggest demonstration of support for what at many times has felt like a ridiculously deluded idea.

Thank you.

For five years we have relentlessly worked in service of the movement

In service of a Seedlip & Tonic being our contribution to the world. 

But I’ve been waiting, hoping & working towards a day where we can just be ourselves.

Be the brand I’ve always dreamed we could be if we did the first things first, fast & with laser beam focus.

Because people care more about having a good time, belonging & being together

than drinks 

Drinks are hand-to-mouth props for socialising.

It’s time for us to serve something else.

To lead this category brilliantly & beautifully by being the brand we’ve always wanted to be.

We will do it as a ‘stick with the winners, solutions focused, stand on the shoulders, nudge the world forward’ [too many steals!] kind of company in the slipstream of the societal zeitgeist for being, doing & consuming better.

A true nature company that oh yeah just happens to makes drinks

Celebrating & protecting the natural world

By connecting people to the wonders of it & doing more right things by it.

Inspiring as many people as possible to love & look after our planet.

Because we’re all nature after all & so we all have a role & responsibility. [just ask a child]

If there’s no nature, there’s no Seedlip & to me therefore there’s no choice.

We are not perfect & we don’t need to be.

We need to be better.

We need progress, continuous improvement, marginal gains [more steals] 

& nature knows a thing or two about progress after 3.8 billion years of evolution.

So on our fifth birthday today [in what is no doubt one of the most poignant weeks in history - precisely not because it’s our birthday] 

It’s a little pause & pat on our back with a bigger hug to you for your support. 

We have much to do & when I think about what we’ve done in the last five, well the next five is a very scary dream!

We have some really exciting things happening over the next few months at a pivotal moment in our short journey so far & we're excited about sharing them with you!

Peas & Love

Ben