A couple behind plans for the north of Scotland’s first rum distillery are facing a race against time to raise funds for the project after turning to a crowdfunding platform.
Lara and David Beach, of Beach Craft Spirits, launched an online bid on the Crowdfunder platform to attract £35,000 funding to set up their distilling operation at Covesea, on the Moray coast.
But, with just over a month to go before the time limit to hit their target, runs out, they have only attracted £1,800 from 14 backers.
The husband and wife team, who have secured premises for the distillery, near Lossiemouth, described their funding situation as “very frustrating.”
Mrs Beach said: “People are liking and sharing our messages on our social media accounts and we have great footfall to the website, but we just need one final push to encourage people to back us.
“If we do not get the money by November 9, we will have to look at other options.”
David has a degree in brewing and distilling, 16 years’ experience in the industry and latterly worked for drinks giant Diageo.
He said: “One thing that has scuppered us is the licence. We have to have a distillers’ licence. However, we could not get that until we got the premises – but we needed to find the premises and the money to secure them before we could apply for the licence.
He added: “We now have wonderful premises and are just waiting on the licence coming through.
“As soon as we can get making and do some tastings I’m sure more people will want to invest, but at the moment our hands are tied and that may not happen before the deadline day.”
Lara and David are offering a range of benefits to backers, who can invest from £15 to £1,000 through the crowdfunding platform.
Mr Beach said all their backers would get their money back if they failed to make their target.