A civil service worker who set up a drinks business during lockdown has won an international award for his liqueur.
Dom Richardson from Birmingham was inspired to launch Whistler's Storm after visiting a Keralan tea farm in India in 2019 and he now distils, bottles and sells his tea-flavoured liqueur from a base in Erdington.
His Earl Grey drink has been named the planet's best tea liqueur at the World Liqueur Awards and it was a double success for the 29 year old as his Assam variety was given a silver award.
The liqueur is designed to be drunk neat over ice or as an ingredient in tea-flavoured cocktails.
Whistler's Storm is stocked in bars, restaurants and retailers across the UK as well as being sold from the company's own website, with plans for a third flavour in the pipeline as well as expansion of its overseas sales.
Mr Richardson, who is a chartered tax adviser and works part-time for the civil service, started developing the concept for Whistler's Storm during the first lockdown in 2020 and then launched the products to market the following year.
He said: "Whistler's Storm was a lockdown project that's turned into a growing business - it's fantastic to get global recognition for the product and how it tastes.
"I've always been a fan of cocktails and it seemed strange to me that, as a nation of tea drinkers, British consumers didn't have access to a quality tea-flavoured liqueur.
"It's been brilliant to see the brand go from strength to strength and I'm now keen to start shipping Whistler's Storm internationally to tea-drinkers and cocktail makers worldwide."
