My guest today is Ben Branson

Ben is the founder of Seedlip – Seedlip is a non-alcoholic spirit and it’s the first of its kind. Served in gorgeous clear bottles, with beautiful branding, with names such as Garden 108 and Spice 94, it has all the romance and allure of a gin. Except it is most definitely not gin.

It’s beyond clever. Four years ago tee-totaller Ben started tinkering in his kitchen, buying a copper still and experimenting with herbal remedies. After hours of experimenting, Seedlip was born. The first 1,000 bottles sold out in just three weeks, the next 1,000 sold out within only three days and the next 1,000 in an incredible thirty minutes online. Pretty impressive stuff!

Fast forwards to today and Seedlip’s success is the kind that most start ups can only dream of. They are stocked in Fortnum & Mason, Selfridges, high-end bars including at The Savoy and in over 100 Michelin-starred restaurants including The Ledbury, The Fat Duck and far too many to even mention. Drinks giant Diageo even wanted in on the action and invested very early on in Seedlip’s journey.But behind every fairytale story is another more interesting saga of hard work and most entrepreneurs will tell you that there’s no such thing as an overnight success . Ben bottled and labelled the first 1,000 bottles himself. He’s on the road more than 240 days a year and it’s not uncommon for him to attend 20 events in 20 days.Ben is ridiculously talented and it’s just been amazing to see his success – so inspiring! He really does have the word peas tattooed onto his knuckles – what can he say, he really loves peas. Head to the website www.desertislanddishes to see a picture of Ben as I do always think its really nice to put a face to a voice – and you can see the recipe I’ve created in honour of Ben. Spoiler alert, there are peas.

Desert Island Dish: His mums roast lamb with peas Luxury item: His dog Kiwi

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