Specialist distillery project management, from idea to liquid
Helping spirit-sector clients shape better distillery projects before the expensive decisions are made.
Places With Spirit is a Scottish consultancy formed by Gareth Roberts and Bari Reid to help clients create, test and deliver the right distillery project for their business.
We work where business planning, branding, spirit production, architecture, visitor experience and delivery strategy overlap, helping founders, operators, landowners and investors make better early decisions.
Start With Better Questions
A successful distillery project is not just a building, a business plan, a production layout or a visitor attraction. It is all of those things colliding, ideally in a controlled manner rather than like a forklift in a bonded warehouse.
Places With Spirit helps clients ask better questions earlier, before design, funding, land, infrastructure or delivery decisions gather too much momentum in the wrong direction.
Shape, Test, Deliver
We help clients move from early ambition to a clearer, more deliverable project. Our work sits between strategy, production, site, brand, visitor experience, consultant coordination and delivery.
For new distilleries, spirit-led destinations, visitor offers and early project concepts.
We help clarify the ambition, define the brief, understand the opportunity and identify the decisions that need to be made before design work gets too far ahead.
Typical input:
Project brief development
Site and opportunity review
Production ambition and scale
Visitor and commercial assumptions
Initial phasing and route map
For feasibility, site appraisal, infrastructure, production flow, visitor assumptions, planning risk, phasing and cost implications.
We help test whether the idea can work in the real world, not just in a pitch deck.
Typical input:
Site, access and infrastructure review
Production and operational requirements
Visitor experience assumptions
Utilities and servicing questions
Planning, funding and delivery risks
Business case and consultant input requirements
For consultant team structure, design management, procurement, phasing and the transition from idea to funded, designed, approved and deliverable project.
We help define the brief, coordinate the right people and make sure the advice is joined up.
Typical input:
Design management
Consultant coordination
Procurement and delivery strategy
Funding-stage project narrative
Phasing and next-step planning
Specialist introductions where required
We work where the commercial, operational, spatial and visitor decisions of a distillery project need to be joined up.
Who We Help
For clients with a serious idea, but not yet a fixed route.
We work with people and organisations exploring, creating, expanding or rethinking distillery projects.
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Testing the idea, site, scale, production ambition, visitor offer and business assumptions before committing to the wrong route.
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Reviewing live sites to identify production bottlenecks, expansion opportunities, infrastructure constraints and visitor improvements.
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Testing whether a distillery-led destination is viable before committing to design, funding or delivery decisions.
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Making sense of early-stage opportunities, business cases, funding narratives, consultant teams and project risk.
From idea to liquid
Places With Spirit provides specialist distillery project advice and design management. We help guide projects from early ambition into briefs, sites, business cases, consultant teams, funding conversations and deliverable projects.
That does not mean doing everything ourselves. It means helping clients understand what needs to be done, who needs to be involved, when they should be brought in, and how the work should be coordinated.
Where required, we can introduce and coordinate experienced specialists across branding, process engineering, financial modelling, production strategy, visitor experience and delivery.
Led By Experience
Places With Spirit is led by Gareth Roberts and Bari Reid.
Gareth was a founder of Organic Architects before going on to establish Pagoda Management, a specialist distillery management consultancy. Bari is a Director of Organic Architects, a specialist architecture practice with extensive experience in distillery and spirit-sector projects, including new-build distilleries, existing site expansion, rural and historic settings, production and brand-led buildings, and visitor spaces.
Together, Gareth and Bari bring practical experience in helping distillery projects move from early ambition into sites, briefs, business cases, consultant teams, funding conversations and deliverable projects.
Our advice is grounded in real projects, not generic consultancy theory.
Distillery Project Notes
Short notes, videos and project observations on the decisions that shape successful distillery places, from feasibility and production flow to visitor experience, infrastructure, funding, phasing and delivery.
