Silence Your Nastiest, Most Prolific Hater — Your Inner Critic — and You Too Can Make World-Class Gin





In a misguided attempt to drum up business soon after I opened my wine store, I attended one of these awful networking dinners that are hallmarks of local business in provincial British towns.
The evening was predictably a waste of time but a dude there said something to me that has stuck with me for the last 10 years:
I was reminded of this recently as I wound my way down through the impossibly gorgeous Snowdonia National Park in Wales to visit an old friend of mine, Danny.

Danny used to sell me Portuguese wine for my store and bar but one day, he and his brother decided they wanted to make gin. And not just any gin but the best gin. Filled with locally foraged botanicals. In the middle of Wales.
Danny had a family, a job, no experience in gin making, and lived hundreds of miles away.
And yet, he still quit his job and opened his distillery. 7 years later, the gin has won an obscene number of awards, and in my professional opinion, is one of the best gins being made anywhere today.
All because he did exactly what that guy said to me all those years ago.
He didn’t let his barriers stop him. And that includes his inner critic.