Gin lovers in Sandbach might have spotted own label bottles appearing on the shelves at various places throughout the town.

Sandbach United's Cross Bar, the Beer Emporium and the Military Arms all have their own labelled gin and now the Old Hall is the latest to join the growing trend.

Further afield there's the Hayhurst Arms in Bostock Green and the Victoria Baths in Manchester not to mention Port Vale football club in the Potteries. 

Winding River Distillery owners, Matthew and Suzanne Fox.

But what gin lovers sipping their favourite tipple don't realise is the couple behind the growing trend are based in Sandbach.

And their amazing business began thanks to a dream Italian holiday and is named after the River Wheelock, flowing through the area. 

The Winding River Distillery is run by Matthew and Suzanne Fox who came up with the idea after a holiday to Sorrento in Italy. 

The Old Hall in Sandbach is the latest collaboration for the Winding River Distillery

"We fell in love with the liqueur Limoncello on holiday to Italy," said Suzanne, who works in HR at Keele University.

"We found the recipe to make Limoncello so we tried it. We made it for friends and family first then decided to try other things such as strawberries and cream liqueur and ginger liqueur."

The couple then went on a gin course at Sunderland University and converted an outbuilding at their Wheelock home, which is the hub of the business.

They now make bottle after bottle of gin and liqueurs, each using slightly different ingredients and put on the unique labels for the carefully crafted gin themselves.  

"We make spirits for Christmas. Our orange brandy is popular along with our spiced honey whisky using local honey from Moston," said Suzanne.

"We also make a coffee liqueur. We do make a Sandbach gin which has lemon and orange peel, juniper and other botanicals," said Suzanne.

They have also branched out into Vodka, making the 'Warm Walls Vodka', named after Warm Walls in Sandbach.

But whatever tipples the Matthews make, they will always pay homage to the place the business is named after – the River Wheelock.      

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