Business Academy winner to launch liqueurs in Jersey

Monday 02 July 2018

Guernsey-based liqueur producer, Haut Maison, who won the inaugural Bailiwick Business Academy competition, are launching three of their drinks in Jersey this week.

Led by passionate mixologist James Le Gallez, Haut Maison will be launching three of their most popular drinks in Jersey, as they hit the shelves at the Co-op and Grand Marché stores.

The boutique liqueur producers are bringing their ‘Damson Gin’ as well as their coffee and raspberry liqueurs to the island after scooping the top prize of £15,000 of promotional support as the winner of the Bailiwick Business Academy.

When asked why he chose these particular flavours to debut in Jersey, James told Express: “The raspberry one is my personal favourite – I don’t want to hurt the feelings of the other flavours, but the raspberry is a really, really good product. The flavour is just bang on and it’s just worked so well from day one. 

“It’s such a strong raspberry flavour so we’ve really gone overkill on that one! [It] macerates for four months and then when we wrack it off, we take the spent raspberries and put them through a fruit press to put more juice back into the liqueur. It’s so popular when served with prosecco and champagne as a Bellini."

Pictured: Passionate cocktail-maker and owner of Haut Maison, James Le Gallez is launching three drinks in Jersey this week.

According to James, the coffee liqueur, which has been made with coffee from local café Bean Around the World, also packs a bit of a punch. He said: “It’s got a proper espresso flavour, it’s really heavy on the coffee. For a batch of around 100 bottles, we use eight kilos of coffee and they’re half bottle sizes as well so it’s a lot of coffee. 

“We’re doing eight kilos of coffee to about 40 litres of liquid so it’s a really high concentration. We cold brew that for 24 hours and then that’s all filtered and bottled in-house… so this is definitely one for the coffee purists!”

Pictured: Haut Maison's Damson Gin and coffee and raspberry liqueurs will be hitting the Co-op's shelves this week.

In addition to the two liqueurs, Haut Maison will be bringing over their Damson Gin, which is their most popular drink in Guernsey.

James plans to launch the liqueurs in Jersey retailers before supplying the drinks to local bars and restaurants. He said: “I’m really excited because I’ve had quite a few bars and restaurants getting in touch coming off the back of the Express competition… it’s hands down the best networking event I’ve ever gone to. So many bars and restaurants and business owners in Jersey have been so enthusiastic which is really, really encouraging.

“I want to get people using them at home when they’re making their own cocktails, or doing stuff with desserts or after-dinner sippers and then just go from there.”

Haut Maison was selected as one of four finalists in the Bailiwick Business Academy who pitched to a panel of expert investors – including Aaron Chatterly, Simon Perée and Zef Eisenberg – and then went on to win the competition’s top prize. As a result of the competition, Haut Maison won £10,000 worth of advertising support from Bailiwick Express, £5,000 of marketing advice from Orchid and the offer of free office space with Regus.

Another two of the Business Academy finalists are also now in private talks with at least one of the investors on the panel with a view to gaining their financial and advisory support.

The next Academy has just launched, with more info here. - it is supported by Carey Olsen, Savills, NatWest International, Sancus, Envestors, Start-up Guernsey and Jersey Business.