Isle of Cumbrae Distillers has a fresh face on board thanks to crowdfunding donation from those eager for Millport’s very own gin.

More than £20,000 was raised in just over a month to help purchase the company’s still, however some of this funding has also been used to acquire a marketing intern.

Strathclyde University marketing graduate Eilidh Reid, who hails from Largs, has joined the distillers to explore the potential for cruise ship customers to visit the island.

Distiller Philippa Dalton said: “Eilidh is great and has a lot of age and experience, she came up with some good ideas and is from Largs so knows the island well.

“Eilidh is very excited about everything we’re doing and we are really glad to have such a motivated person on our team.”

The Distillers want to bring more tourists to the island to visit their premises and take part in gin making classes, which in turn will benefit other island businesses as well.

Philippa said: “Eilidh is going to be connecting with potential customers for us, particularly focussing on social media and connecting with The Coig and the journey up the coast.

“She’s going to see if she can connect with any tour companies and see if they would be interested in adding to their itinerary or coming on to the island.

“We’ve got some small-scale cruise ships coming into Millport, but we also want to connect with the ones that come into Greenock’s new ocean terminal from 2021 onwards.”

With lockdown relaxing across the country, the distillers are hoping to unveil their signature ‘Nostalgin’ in person for the first time in the next few months.

Philippa said: “We’re hoping to have some form of opening in September, just to have the shop open for people to view.

“If we can get everything moving in the next few weeks then we could have something to sell from the shop.

“People have still been coming up and asking us about our progress, which is almost a year since we started.

“Bearing in mind everything that has happened, our progress has not been bad considering we might be producing our gin before Christmas.”

Despite the delay to the island’s very own gin, Philippa says lockdown has allowed the team and other businesses to take their time with progress.

She said: “We were so green when we started off the business, but it has been so much harder than we first thought.

“There has been a lot of different forms and licences, the pandemic has actually given us the opportunity not to rush everything.

“I think a lot of businesses will have found they can do things they’ve never had time for, like we have had.”