WE ARE DREAM CHASERS

Bringing my family over to England from Portugal was truly a step into the unknown, a leap of faith. This is from where the name Faith & Sons derives. Fortunately, our F&S monogram also represents the initials of my name, Filipe Sousa.

 

After working as a bartender for 14 years, it was a natural progression to producing my own spirits. My distillation journey began in 2015 in our new Manchester home. My wife, Maria (the real boss), allowed the removal of the dining table from the kitchen and I installed a small flame-fired copper still.

 

Once I had been running my home distillery for two years, and after millions of prayers from Maria to the distillation gods, it was decided that the time was right to find larger premises to allow expansion.

 

DISCOVERING

I learned to distil in Germany with Klaus Hagmann. This meant that, together with learning how to produce meaningful and honest spirits, I also learnt the importance of German precision.

 

The concept of our flagship gin is to combine botanicals which unlock personal memories of a place and time. The starting point included piney juniper, spicy coriander seeds, earthy angelica root and sweet liquorice. We then added saudade ‘bittersweet memory’ to the recipe, along with some personal emotion.

 

To evoke memories of home and my childhood, I chose the lemon verbena that grew in our garden. This was followed by mandarins, my favourite fruit, that my grandmother used to buy for me. The citrussy verbena and the unique flavour of mandarin completed the overall flavour profile, resulting in a taste of Portuguese sunshine with a touch of saudade.

 

HAVING FAITH

We are people whose lives are lived with simplicity.

 

Our philosophy is at the heart of our distillery, and is reflected in the way we make our spirits.

 

We are fuelled by passion and encouraged by faith.

 

Filipe, Maria & Madalena.