GIN makers Masons are so determined to rise from the ashes of their devastating fire they’ve launched a special Phoenix Journal to keep customers and supporters up to date and are already distilling and bottling their iconic gin again.

Three weeks ago their distillery and thousands of bottles of gin went up in smoke after an explosion at their base in Aiskew, Bedale. Now they’re desperate to find a new base, but insist it has to be in their home town area.

And in the meantime they’ve resumed production, within days they had offices at Bedale Hall, staff are making gin at outlying distilleries and a new bottling and labelling plant has been set up on the nearby Leeming Bar Industrial Estate.

Karl and Cathy Mason set up their special Yorkshire brand in 2013 capitalising on Karl’s passion for gin to come up with a unique blend. Since then the company has won many international awards and built a niche space in the soaring gin industry.

The couple say getting back up and running is largely down to their 32 staff who they have thanked in their online Phoenix Journal, launched to keep everyone informed on progress. "Our team have been incredibly resilient and have helped guide us through this challenging period, showing the true Yorkshire spirit. They are showing no sign of slowing down, they’ve tackled each hurdle that’s come their way to continue with their passion of producing Masons Yorkshire Gin," said Karl.

The firm was producing 15,000 bottles of gin a week and while they can’t produce that currently they already had a new still on order, Big Steve, which is due for delivery soon, the question is where they are going to put it.

"We are desperate to stay in Bedale that is still the priority, that’s where we always wanted to be and to have somewhere we could have a visitor centre. Anyone who may have any good ideas we would certainly be keen to talk to them, we need to find somewhere quickly. We still have options but we haven’t decided which one is going to be the best.

“This is a setback obviously it is, but it is also a challenge to push everything harder and that is how we have to look at it. We were really determined to get back up and running and we have to keep the same quality, what we did in an hour before is now taking us a day, but we just have to carry on because we love what we do,”added Cathy.