Makers of Pudsey – #1 – Morava Gin

With the arrival of the New Year, comes a brand new series to the MyPudsey blog. Our Makers of Pudsey blog series will focus on the unique products, designed, tested and created within the Pudsey area by some of the fantastic people and businesses based here. For the first entry in the series we have a real treat. Launched at the end of 2021 to widespread praise, Morava is a producer of beautiful, fresh tasting Gins, inspired by the heritage surrounding Pudsey’s Moravian settlement, Fulneck. As with a lot of the blogs we put together, Makers of Pudsey is here to tell you more about a product and its creator – in their own words. For this blog we spoke to Natalie and Leo about their product, what it is, why they created it and how you can try it.

First of all, tell us more about your business and product?

We are Morava Pudsey Gin, a new gin company that hit the market back in December 2021. The business was created by Leo of Gigi’s Restaurant fame and Natalie Tordoff, a local business woman. We both felt that Pudsey needed its own gin that reflected some of the great stories our town and its surrounding area has to offer.

The first flavour we have brought to market is an Orange & Spice Gin.

The feedback we have received so far has been fantastic, with people commenting on how our gin is extremely smooth, refreshing and very tasty. Our customers have also commented on how they enjoy it, with a mixer of tonic or lemonade and plenty of ice. We also always recommend a slice of fresh orange as well to really help enhance the taste, but as with all alcoholic beverages, the way it is enjoyed is always a very personal choice we therefore suggest everyone tries different combinations until they get the drink they want. Personally, we often like to drink it with a stick of cinnamon, as well as the fresh orange slice, as this helps to compliment the spices in the gin

What inspired you to create Morava?

In the early 17th century, after fleeing persecution from their homeland, members of the Moravian church settled in Pudsey, West Yorkshire. This unique settlement was given the name Fulneck, after Fulnek, a town in Northern Moravia, Czech Republic, where the Moravian denomination originated. The name Morava was just a take on Moravia.

In 1747, Moravian Bishop Johannes de Watteville introduced the tradition of Christingle, which has gone on to become a symbolic object used by many of the Christian denominations worldwide. Our Orange & Spice Gin is inspired by the Christingle itself, by blending an orange based with spices to give a traditional warming flavour to savour and enjoy all year round.

Our branding is also heavily inspired by Moravia, and was inspired by Moravian folk patterns with the colours originating from the flavours we produce.

Our next flavour, Plum & Vanilla which will be launched in early February 2022, and is inspired by the plum brandy’s enjoyed by many who live in the Moravian region to this day.

Morava is such a positive story, but began life amidst the uncertainty of the Pandemic and the impact on the Leisure & Hospitality industries. Why now?

Whilst there is much uncertainty in the Leisure & Hospitality with Covid, we were keen to launch this Gin before Christmas for obvious reasons. With us also having the outlet of Gigi’s restaurant, it was key to get the gin to market during the busy festive period to make sure many people got to sample it and hopefully buy it for themselves or their loved ones as gifts.

We also felt that lockdown had given us a reason to focus on a business that could flourish, even if the restaurant industry had to close again. Most people are now collecting Gin’s for their homes, with the old drinks cabinets of the 70’s coming back in to fashion, but now with an array of flavoured gins from all over the world. Honestly, the gin market is booming. People of all walks of life enjoy the plentiful gin flavours on offer. Gin no longer tastes like it used to, there’s a flavour for everyone and the ability to buy local and buy online means that we should be able to keep supplying Gin to the good people of Pudsey regardless of whether or not we find ourselves locked down again!

We have taken some benefits from the uncertainty, for example a quieter than usual January has given us a great chance to prepare our second flavour Plum & Vanilla.

Even if you’re not a Gin lover or you’re reluctant to buy a full bottle for fear of not loving it, you can always ‘try before you buy’ next time you visit and order a fabulous Italian meal at Gigi’s.

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You’re making us thirsty, so where can ourselves and our readers try or buy some?

We have been very successful in getting many bars and restaurants to stock our Gin locally. You can try it in Hideout, The Royal, The Commercial , Bar 147, East Restaurant, The White Horse, Deeva, Bar Thirty Three, The Thornhill and many more besides. Drop by any of these to try a glass or two.

If you want to purchase a bottl, you can call into Gigi’s anytime, or you can buy via our online store at www.morava.uk.

So, tell us more about your ties to Pudsey, and what you enjoy most about our town?

We have both lived and worked with our families for over 20 years in Pudsey. Leo owns and runs the successful Italian restaurant Gigi’s on Lidgett Hill, Pudsey. We both have immersed ourselves in to community life and enjoy many benefits the town has to offer. Natalie, a keen runner and coach, has been a member of Pudsey Pacers for many years and helped to raise sponsorship for several years as part of the team that organise the annual Pudsey 10k run. Our children have enjoyed many carnivals, Christmas lights and local events over the years. We have been really inspired by all the great work that people have been doing over the last few years to make Pudsey a great place to work, and enjoy. We truly hope that we can help Pudsey, by having its own Gin that it can be proud of.

Tell us more about your future plans, are you looking to expand?

Finally, what’s next for you and Morava?

We are launching our next flavour, Plum & Vanilla, within the next month – keep your eye on our social media pages for updates. We’re working hard to get more local pubs, restaurants and bars stocking our gin shortly and we aim to get the bottles into more local retail outlets, so it becomes more widely available. Following that, we want to grow the brand so it becomes much more well known within Leeds & Yorkshire.

Pudsey truly is full of fantastic businesses and business people, and the team at Morava are no exception. If you want to get your hands on some of that tasty Pudsey Gin, get yourselves to any of the retailers mentioned above. Alternatively, you can buy online through their website https://www.morava.uk/shop or even pop in to Gigi’s Restaurant for some beautiful food (or just gin), and take away a bottle with you.

Don’t forget to give Morava a follow over on Facebook and keep up-to-date with their latest flavours and creations. https://www.facebook.com/moravapudseygin/

As always, thank you for reading!