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Turning a hobby into a full time business is something a lot of us aspire to, but only a few achieve. For cocktail-making enthusiast, James Le Gallez, the dream has become reality as he is now at the head of Haut Maison liqueurs.
He is one of four finalists hoping to win a prize worth tens of thousands of pounds in the Bailiwick Business Academy - or perhaps even the support of a major investor.
James’ first foray into business came when he was aged just 13 years old. He’d go to school with a CD wallet, ask his fellow pupils to pick a compilation and then, a few days later, he would deliver them their own personalised mix complete with a specially designed CD cover.
These days, he’s a different kind of mixologist – a mover and shaker in Guernsey’s fledgling cocktail scene, as head of Haut Maison liqueurs. Having swapped songs for spirits, his vocabulary is now peppered with chat of ‘maceration’ and ‘filtration’, which he talks about in delighted tones.
They’re just two of the steps in the long process – six months of planning alone is needed – of combining local ingredients to make smooth alcoholic syrups to make his island home tick. There’s Damson Gin, Espresso Vodka, Crème de Cassis, Loganberry Liqueur, a Summer Fruit Cup – and even a rather intriguing Horseradish Vodka.
But for someone so comfortable with creative tastes, it took a long time before he “twigged that [he] had a knack.” A ‘knack’ is lightly put – James has secured top spots in international cocktail contests thanks to his acute grasp of “telling a story” with flavour.
The story he tells through his liqueurs, which he describes as “high quality products, with all locally grown fruit, no additives”, is that of Mr and Mrs Paine. The couple set up the company at their home - Maison de la Haut – as an enjoyable retirement endeavour, lovingly growing and picking the hundreds of kilos of fruit themselves on their 11 acres of land.
As James’ passion for cocktail-making grew – he had left a job in marketing when his hobby turned into mobile bar business, Apértif – so did his relationship with
the Paines. Then a pleasant shock announcement took things to the next level. “They randomly walked in one day and said, ‘We’re going to sell the business.’ Luckily the bottom of my jaw is connected to my skull. I always wanted that business so much but thought it was a few years away, but I thought, ‘Now’s my only chance.’”
Pictured: James putting the finishing touches to one of his signature cocktails.
Inspired by their spirit, but with a few ideas up his berry-stained sleeves, James now wants to take the product up a notch. “This year, I’m doing a variety of special edition flavours using produce from other local suppliers. I’ve just finished a test batch of crème de menthe using fresh Guernsey herbs.”
But that’s just the small-scale. He wants to go national. “I’ve seen a very lucrative gap in the market on a national scale, even a global scale for what these liqueurs offer. It’s easy for people to say ‘of course they sell well, it’s got Guernsey slapped across the bottle’, but I know that we get repeat business because it’s such a high quality product. Jersey, for me, will be the testbed to prove that I’m not relying on people’s patriotism to buy the product. “It’s got a great heart-warming story that people can connect to, and there’s passion behind it.”
James hopes the Business Academy will help him to tell more stories.
On 5 March, Haut Maison will be one of the four finalists to go before the potential investors in the Bailiwick Business Academy, including Aaron Chatterley, Simon Perée and Zef Eisenberg.
Whether they invest or not is a personal choice - but they will decide on one winner who will receive mentoring, £10,000 of advertising with Bailiwick Express, £5,000 of marketing support from Orchid and six months free office space with Regus.
Tomorrow, you will be able have your say on our daily news e-mail on which one you think should win.
The Academy is supported by Carey Olsen, Jersey Business, Orchid, Envestors, Regus, Sancus and Start-up Guernsey.
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