Introducing Gasm Drinks

Richard, Sam and Tommy are the family team behind Gasm Drinks—a company that has the sporting countryside written into its DNA. Over the last ten years, Gasm has grown from a seed of an idea into a well-established Champagne-style cocktail brand that’s winning plaudits from experts and enthusiasts throughout the UK. 

Before we get to their trio of products, we should start with the name, which probably needs less explaining to Scribehound readers than it does to most others. ‘Gasm’, you see, takes inspiration from the tipple of choice for shooting parties, the ‘sloegasm’. A perfect pairing of Champagne and sloe gin, there is nothing quite like it. Sloegasm ticks all the boxes for an outdoor cocktail: it’s refreshing and warming, comforting and invigorating, continental and yet undeniably British. Richard and Sam are huge fans, so they set out to bottle the perfect blend and bring the drink, which had been shooting’s best-kept secret, to a wider audience in the form of a grown-up pop-and-go fizz cocktail.

Taking the epitome of a countryside cocktail into bars, clubs and homes throughout the UK is a daunting task, but it’s hard to think of a couple better suited to the challenge than Richard and Sam. 

Richard Davies was born to a farming family in Montgomeryshire. The youngest of three boys, his fondest memories of childhood are tending to livestock (not always as smartly turned out as pictured!).

Following a long stint of boarding school in Scotland, he pursued his love of farming by studying agriculture at The Welsh Agricultural College, and later spent 35 years as Director of the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society. His eclectic career included property development, renewable energy investments and becoming Britain’s leading worm farmer. In spite of his diverse professional interests, the one constant passion of his life has been outdoor pursuits. Rugby, sailing and shooting have at various stages jostled for first place, but camaraderie in the open air is, for Richard, the ultimate way to enjoy oneself.

Sam’s interest in rural life began a bit later. Her father was a jockey, and she lost her mother at a very early age. Sam was born and raised in Gloucestershire and went to Downe House via prep school in Marlborough. After O-levels, she went to St George’s in Montreux before moving to London to teach. A lover of the bright lights, Sam spent as much time in London as possible, and always enjoyed the glitz and glamour of the cocktail bar scene. When she came to Wales to marry Richard at the age of 40, she wanted to inject some of that sparkle into Richard’s and her more traditional country life.

The coming together of Sam’s and Richard’s city and rural passions is mirrored by the brand they have created. Gasm is just as much at home on a Manchester nightclub table as it is in the windswept fields of Montgomeryshire. Their original, flagship product, Sloeberry Gasm, which won a coveted Great Taste Award in 2021, got the ball rolling, and they have since created raspberry gin-infused Razz Gasm and Plum Gasm, which also won a star from the Great Taste Awards this year.

The drinks themselves, which you can buy directly from the family or from many outlets on and offline, are well worth a try. Richard and Sam invested their time, money and energy into creating a range of pop-and-go cocktails that are unlike anything else on the market. Working with a renowned sommelier, they blended British fruit gins with fine sparkling wine, and worked tirelessly to strike the ideal balance of fizz, body, strength and colour. The results have been described as like ‘kir royale with a gin kick’. Those of you who are familiar with the sloegasm cocktail will be delighted with the ease and simplicity of having the perfect blend ready to go—outdoor ‘mixology’ can be a bit haphazard—while people who haven’t been introduced to the joys of Champagne-style cocktails on shoots could well end up with a new favourite choice for special occasions.

Sam and Richard are regulars on the events scene, while Sam’s son, Tommy, heads up Gasm’s digital efforts. Their expansion plans include a new website (due to launch in October ’23), social media, content creation and a full sampling agenda. In March 2021, Tommy and Richard pitched on Dragons’ Den and, while they didn’t secure an investment (there weren’t any shooting types in the chairs, meaning they didn’t quite ‘get’ the name), they were encouraged by the unanimous praise that the investors gave each of their range of drinks.

Right from the beginning, Richard, Sam and Tommy felt that gin cocktails deserved an audience bigger than that of the shooting trips cognoscenti. If their awards—they were named ‘Best Champagne-style Cocktail at this year’s SME News Business Elite Awards—and their growing number of fans throughout the country are anything to go by, they look well on the way.