A husband-and-wife team have launched a new bar and distillery after receiving support from the local community over the pandemic.
Bone Idyll is a new distillery, bar, and debut spirit and cocktail collection, which fully launched to the public on June 23.
The owners, Sam and Alex Berry, are restaurateurs, mixologists and entrepreneurs from Surbiton.
The new venue is located next to the river in Kingston on Water Lane.
It comes complete with a steampunk feel bar and kitchen where you can create your own cocktails.
The duo also own No.97, Cento Uno and The Hideaway (Surbiton) and One One Four (Teddington) as well as The Good Life Gin Company.
The couple first met when Alex used to sing a Sunday night gig at Vodka Revs where Sam worked.
One day she decided to slip Sam a napkin with her number on it and their relationship and their future distilling careers spanned from there.
The pair have now been together eight years and married for six.
Sam, 32, told Surrey Comet: “Me and Alex used to be bartenders by trade, and we used to work for Vodka Revs and that’s how we met.
“We then started the Good Life Gin Company and the No.97 bar, we always kind of did it on the side and as a hobby.
“Lockdown hit and everything closed, and we thought right we have a little side hustle already, let’s have a go at this.
Instead of approaching crowdfunding platforms, the pair decided to reach out to their community and customers in order to make Bone Idyll a reality.
Sam said: “We emailed 200 of our customers that visited the most across our four sites and said we were thinking about a new project.”
“The best thing about this is that the 50 investors all live between Surbiton and Teddington.
“It still hasn’t quite hit.
“We have a great team around us, nice people and nice community.”
Around a month later in July 2021, enough money had been raised for Bone Idyll to become a reality.
Alex, 30, said: “The local support is just insane
“We have always had a good reception from the local community, so it is so great that people have faith in us.
“We wouldn’t be able to do this without the help of all these people and it is actually quite mind-blowing.”
Bone Idyll looks to hold masterclasses, tastings and private bookings in the back section of the venue.
Sam said: “We wanted the back of the venue to be like your kitchen, so you know when you have people over at your home and everyone is kind of milling around in the kitchen, that is how we wanted it to be.
“It is just a fun space where you can meet new people, we have been locked up for two years, we lost all of that over Covid.”
You can also take home your own bottles of Bone Idyll spirits and premixed cocktails, with each liquor defined by a vintage character.
On the night of the press launch, Sam was eager to get into the character of a Ziggy Stardust-looking persona “Rock Tzars”, which represented the Vodka spirit.
Sam explained: “We wanted to create period drama fantasy but done in a modern way.
“That is how we do all the spirits, distil them in a traditional way but bring a bit of life to them.”
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