Hilco is seeking offers to acquire the intellectual property and tangible assets of Rare Bird Distillery Limited (“Rare Bird” or the “Company”) on behalf of the Proposed Liquidator of the Company, Charles Brook of S&W Partners LLP.
Built around a husband-and-wife founding story and a bespoke 300-litre copper still named “Florence”, Rare Bird established itself as a distinctive name in the Yorkshire artisan spirits scene, blending small-batch production with an experiential, visitor-facing offer. The brand’s “Mediterranean inspired, Yorkshire at heart” positioning, combined with a 5* rated gin school and distinctive gradient-wash bottle design, gave the Company a credible niche and helped the brand to distinguish itself in the market.
The Company operated across multiple channels, including direct-to-consumer retail and bar sales from its Malton premises, e-commerce via its own website, wholesale supply to regional stockists, hospitality venues and farm shops, and experiential income through gin school sessions. Since 2019, the Company has built a customer base of c. 1,800 individual customers and a wholesale trade list of c. 250 active accounts spanning pubs, hotels, restaurants, farm shops and independent retailers across Yorkshire and beyond.
This sale offers prospective purchasers the opportunity to acquire an established gin brand with a loyal customer base, a proven wholesale network, and the recipes, stock and digital infrastructure needed to relaunch or integrate the brand into an existing portfolio.
The Rare Bird brand built a genuine regional following in the competitive Yorkshire artisan gin market, anchored by its home in Malton, “the food capital of Yorkshire”, and reinforced by its visitor-facing distillery, retail shop and gin school. The brand’s identity centres on its small-batch, founder-led story and its distinctive gradient-wash bottle design, created in-house and applied consistently across the product range.
The brand’s strength lies in the combination of product, place, and experience, with a TripAdvisor rating of 5* across approximately 210 reviews for its gin school experience. This experiential dimension gives the brand a defensible point of difference from purely retail-led competitors and a ready platform for relaunch, reactivation, or extension into adjacent categories such as flavoured spirits, hampers, and gifting.
The Company holds registered trade marks protecting the “Rare Bird Distillery” brand name and associated branding across multiple jurisdictions.
Full details on the Company’s trade marks are available via a virtual data room.
The Company’s gin recipes and production know-how are available to acquire, comprising the formulations for its three core expressions: Rare Bird London Dry Gin (a traditional recipe using 11 botanicals), Rare Bird Rhubarb & Ginger Gin, and Rare Bird Vanilla Spiced Gin (featuring a post-distillation maceration process using Madagascan Bourbon vanilla pods).
The Company holds the primary rarebirddistillery.co.uk domain name, which is available to acquire.
The Company is likely to hold the copyright in the content hosted on its website.
Rights in certain social media and digital accounts are available to acquire across Instagram, Twitter and Trip Advisor.
Full details of the accounts are available via the virtual data room.
The Company maintains a customer database comprising c. 1,800 individual customer records collected via its e-commerce website since 2019, capturing customer names, contact details, delivery information and order histories, together with lifetime sales of over £110,000 transacted directly through the site.
In addition, the Company holds a wholesale trade contact list of c. 250 active and historic accounts, comprising pubs, hotels, restaurants, farm shops, independent retailers and other trade customers across Yorkshire and beyond, together with associated contact and account information. Together, these databases offer a purchaser an immediate route to both direct-to-consumer reactivation and wholesale trade re-engagement.
A range of tangible assets are available to acquire alongside the intellectual property, including a second copper pot distilling system (a Boben Cool Still with a 600-litre working volume, purchased in 2022 and held in its original wrapping), in addition to the working 300-litre copper still from which all Rare Bird expressions have been produced to date. Together, the two stills represent a meaningful production capacity uplift for any acquirer looking to scale the brand beyond its current output. Also included is an Anton Paar Snap 40 alcohol meter, a gin school suite of eight copper mini-stills and associated equipment, stainless steel gin dispensing tankers, and a fully fitted gin school room. Branded packaging, baubles and scented candles are held at a secondary unit and are also available to acquire.
Further details on all tangible assets and their assessed values are available via the virtual data room.
The deadline for offers is Thursday 23 July at 12pm 2026 at 12pm BST
All expressions of interest and bids are to be directed to Hilco in writing. A Bid Submission Form is available on request. Please contact Hilco to gain access to a virtual data room for further information on signing a confidentiality agreement.
Hilco is acting as exclusive agent to the Company and its Proposed Liquidator in connection with the proposed sale of some or all of the Company’s assets. The Proposed Liquidator acts as an agent of the Company and without personal liability.
All sales are made strictly on an “as is, where is” basis. Only such right, title and interest (if any) as the Company may have in the assets will be transferred to a purchaser. No warranties, guarantees, or representations (express or implied) are provided by the Company, its Proposed Liquidator, or Hilco in respect of the assets or any information supplied. All parties must rely on their own enquiries and due diligence. Any information provided is for convenience only and has not been independently verified.
All offers are subject to the addition of VAT at the prevailing rate, where applicable. A non-refundable deposit equal to 20% of the agreed purchase price must be paid by the successful purchaser within 48 hours of offer acceptance. Payment of the deposit grants the purchaser the exclusive right to proceed with the acquisition of the relevant assets for a limited period and on the terms agreed. A Buyer’s Premium of 10% of the final purchase price is payable by the successful purchaser in addition to the agreed purchase price, is non-negotiable and is payable at the same time and in the same manner as the purchase price and forms a condition of sale.
Legal completion must occur within five (5) business days of offer acceptance, unless otherwise agreed in writing by the Company and its Proposed Liquidator.
