In August 2016, husband and wife team, Finlay and Eileen Geekie, packed up all their worldly possessions, left behind the hustle and bustle of Oxfordshire, where they’d lived for over 30 years, and moved to their newly completed, self-build house, to start a new life on the tiny, remote Hebridean island of Colonsay. Their new business provides them with the opportunity to combine their love of all things gin with their desire to create a viable future, living and working on this wild island, and, at the same time, make a significant contribution to the future sustainability and ongoing development of the local island economy and community as a whole.
PEOPLE
FIN
Fin studied Architecture at Dundee University, before working in private practice in Oxfordshire. A move into the house building sector saw him concentrate on business management before gaining an MBA from Oxford Brookes University.
After several years ‘climbing the corporate ladder’, he achieved his goal of being the Regional Director of a major house building business. Using all the experience gained during this time, in 2004 he established his own property development company. Fin has now moved to Colonsay to live and work and build Wild Thyme Spirits.
EILEEN
Eileen studied Commerce at Abertay University in Dundee, before going on to complete a postgraduate teacher training Certificate in Secondary Education, Moray House, in Edinburgh. Her early career saw her teaching Business Studies at schools in Dundee and Oxford before moving into the business world with Blackwell Bookstores in Oxford.
After a career break to become a mum to two boys, Eileen specialized in the field of Human Resources, returning to Blackwells, before furthering her specialization at Oxfam, and Oxford University. Her final placement was at the Oxford Primary Health Care Trust.
THE HELPERS - MYTHICAL
In Celtic folklore, every house had a Brownie or Spirit, or in Gaelic, an Uruisg {oor-isk} to help with household chores. They were traditionally male, small in stature, illusive, and worked only at night. They became attached to particular families and estates, with whom they stayed for centuries. There are two at Wild Thyme Spirits; twins, Doughal & Ferghus
They help ALVA, a delightful, red-haired maiden, a very special Brownie with supernatural powers, a Gruagach {groo-ah-gak}. Long, long ago she somehow survived when her Viking long boat crashed on the wild island’s unforgiving rocks.
She stumbled ashore and took shelter at Tigh Na Uruisg {tee-na-oor-isk}, or Home of the Spirit, where she remains to this day. She uses all her powers to protect her secret recipes from those desperate to know. With an alchemist’s touch, she transforms humble botanicals into gin.
THE HELPERS - REAL
We have a great team of consultants helping us out, and we couldn’t have done any of this without their skill, advice, patience and hard work. A huge thank you to:Caroline Vos, Illustrator
From sunny Cape Town, South Africa, Caroline Vos somehow managed to capture an amazing likeness of our illusive Brownies, the twins, Ferghus & Doughal, which can be seen on the Wild Thyme Spirits logo. She also brought the beautiful ALVA to life in her illustration for our Colonsay Gin label.
Pocket Rocket Creative
Gary and the team at the award-winning Marketing Consultancy PRC have an amazing track record in the drinks industry of producing fantastic branding and we are delighted with what they produced for Wild Thyme Spirits Ltd and Colonsay Gin.
Tony Reeman-Clark
We reserve special thanks to Tony Reeman-Clark and his team at Strathearn. Tony is a spirits guru, innovator and general all round good guy, and his advice and wise words about all things gin have been, and continue to be, invaluable.
" I had been following Wild Thyme Spirits' launch and progress on social media and was impressed with the brand they were building. I had the pleasure of meeting Fin and Eileen at this year's Junipalooza and can genuinely say they are two of the loveliest, warm-hearted people in the industry. Their passion, creativity and sense of humour shines through. I also love that they have avoided the route of gimmicky botanicals and have crafted a solid juniper-led true expression of gin. "
Sam’s was with us from 2012 when we rescued him from a shelter in Cyprus and was the most laid back, good-natured dog imaginable! We were so upset when we had to say goodbye to him in November 2020. Hopefully he enjoyed his life with us, he certainly enriched ours!
Kira is a newer addition to the WTS team. We rescued her from the same shelter in March 2016. She’s a bit moree single-minded and still inclined to go walkabout, but we’re working on that!
Hicks is the newest member of the #gindog clan and is a Hungarian Vizsla. We got him as a puppy at 12 weeks old in August 2021.
Kira is very much the ‘big sister’ and tries her best to keep young Hicks in his place! They both absolutely love the wild island, especially the freedom and wide open spaces that it offers them. A deserted Kiloran Bay on a windy day soon becomes ‘their’ beach, and is a particular favourite, that and chasing rabbits on the golf course!
Their sense of smell and acute hearing often alerts us to the presence of ALVA and the twins, but more often than not, it’s just Robbie the Postie!