Humbled by the support

My name is Chris and I am one of the four directors of Henstone Distillery. Last week I decided to work on extending my LinkedIn base of contacts to include spirit production related people as most of my existing network was linked to my earlier career in Telecoms and IT.

I didn’t just send LinkedIn connect requests but wrote personal notes to each individual I thought might be interested in connecting with a novice distiller. The response I have received has been incredible – I’ve increased my LinkedIn base by nearly 100 people across a wide range of responsibilities and skills and received loads of encouraging notes back. As a result I thought I’d share some of the responses…..I’ve removed names, distilleries and countries to protect peoples’ identity but think you’ll agree with me that this industry has some great people who are really willing to help each other.

Here are some of the replies I received:

Sounds good! Best of luck with your new venture, I look forward to hearing more about it and following your journey

Happy to be amongst your contacts and good luck with your venture

Hi Chris. Not a problem.

Not a problem, good luck on your venture.

It is a pleasure. We certainly have a mutual interest. What is your distillery destined to produce?

Good luck with all your plans and come and see us in distillery if you’re ever in the area! All the best.

Not a problem Chris, thanks for reaching out and if you ever have any questions feel free to reach out. Best of luck with the distillery.

I hope that you are well and best wishes with the new venture. If we can assist in any manner, please let me know.

absolutely no problems! Good luck!

No problem – an exciting project to be leading! What styles of spirit are you creating?

thanks for the connect request. All the best with the new distillery, I’ll look forward to seeing your updates!

Good luck in your new venture, I’m more on the logistics side of things but if you need any advice I just may know the thing you need.

Thanks for your invite and please contact if you want any business association with us in future. We introduce us as one of the biggest liquor company from country. To know more about us you can visit our website

I’m willing to help in any way I can.

hi and thanks for connect. Very exciting times for you I’m sure. If I can ask what are you planning to distil? Spirit from cereal or fruit and does your company have experience of the process design, plant specification and legislative requirements for safe production and storage?

I wish you all the best in your venture, if there is anything I can ever help you with please feel free to ask.

Not at all. Thanks for the connection Chris 🙂 it’d be great to visit when the distillery is up and running.

Sure. Good luck and be ready to work long hours. But it is well worth it

Not a problem. What are you looking to distill? Just make sure you have about twice as much money and time as you planned on and you should be ok!

Best of luck with the distillery!

Not a problem. Good luck with your new venture.

I think our next post will revert to photos as we have a little trip planned………