I’m Gary Peckham, son of plumber Bruce (not a Gary) and for the entirety of writing this bit of scribble, I’m a Villa fan. Just to wind up everyone’s favorite Blue Nose (that’s a Birmingham City fan, for the uninitiated), simply because I can. After I finish this, I’ll go back to being a West […]
Read MoreI’m Gary Peckham, son of plumber Bruce (not a Gary) and for the entirety of writing this bit of scribble, I’m a Villa fan. Just to wind up everyone’s favorite Blue Nose (that’s a Birmingham City fan, for the uninitiated), simply because I can. After I finish this, I’ll go back to being a West Ham fan.
Starting from the beginning (which is apparently the best place to start), I popped out in the maternity center of Calverley Park Gardens back in October of 1973. That makes me the ripe old age of 50 as I type this, half a century. 50 is the atomic number of tin, the fifth magic number in nuclear physics, and in milimeters, it’s the focal length of a normal lens in 35mm photography.
I lived in Tunbridge Wells all my life in the UK, and after a decent childhood for a Gary, and something that resembled an education, I started off as a sparky (electrician), then moved into electrical engineering, then up to chief electrical engineer, and eventually project management. Most of my work was on commercial and industrial projects in London and the south of the UK.
It wasn’t a bad life; in many ways, it was quite good. But being a bit adventurous, it quickly became too routine. Boredom set in, and I wanted to escape the envelope of Royal Tunbridge Wells.
Everything changed when I decided to sell the roof over my head and pretty much all that I owned, even my nice Ducati, and took a random one-way ticket to China.
I had no clue what I’d do on my adventures. My first stop was Nanning for a quick visit to see some pals, then I settled for about year in Yangshuo, Guangxi. Amongst magical misty mountains and winding rivers, it was a cracking spot for an adventurous chap like me to explore and make loads of friends!
Along my travels, I met my business partner, and we shared a lot of experiences and opinions on building a successful business, so that’s what we decided to to. We picked Shenzhen in Guangdong and we started a factory to make tools and equipment for the diamond and jewellery industry. We traveled around promoting the business and patenting our tools. After a lot of graft, our brand became well-known for its innovation and quality, which still runs successfully today!
I’ve since expanded to create another business because China has motivated me to work hard and aim at becoming half successful. So I also work on handling projects for overseas companies in Asia. Some of this involves manufacturing and exporting POP illuminated signage for alcohol brands, display lighting for luxury cosmetics, and many other projects. From construction project management to rapid prototyping, CNC milling, injection molding, and 3D printing—pretty much anything that makes that folding stuff and keeps a Gary out of trouble!
Living in China for over 18 years has been an enriching and incredible journey, filled with unforgettable experiences and countless reasons to cherish this vibrant country. From the warm hospitality of the people to the dynamic and driven work environment, China has offered me a sense of belonging and purpose.
Beyond its breathtaking landscapes and rich cultural heritage, China holds a special place in my heart for the opportunity it provided me to meet my wife – the only lady mad enough to marry a Gary. I am immensely grateful for the chance to build a life with her and to call this beautiful country our home. The diversity of the culture, and traditions has broadened my perspective and taught me valuable lessons about adaptability and open-mindedness. Through both challenges and triumphs, I have grown personally and professionally, forging lifelong connections and memories that I will forever hold dear.
I think my story is probably a bit unique in terms of how I got involved in the project. I wasn’t “part of the crowd” and I live too far outside of the city of Shenzhen to get involved in any of the Whisky Networking events.
I actually heard about the project because two of my friends, Dan and Ben, had invested as they also shared another business with one of the board members. I smelt an opportunity to sell some illuminated signage, got the contact for the CEO, and hit him up on the phone to sell him some signs.
I’d jumped the proverbial gun as Nine Rivers Distillery was still a big patch of mud and a couple of years away from producing spirit, let alone having mature whisky to sell.
But I had a really good chat with the CEO, we stayed in touch, chatted occasionally, and as I saw the social media updates of that patch of mud turning into something serious, I just wanted to be a part of it. I’ll definitely be there on site this year (I’ve been trying to make the time literally every weekend for the last year, but something always comes up at the last minute) if not before, then definitely in November when we can all finally start filling casks.
Right, back to being a Gary and a West Ham fan.
If you enjoyed reading our article about Gary Peckham, and you would like to catch up with some of our past articles, then please CLICK HERE and go to our News Section, where most of our other content is published.
One of the easiest ways to help our project succeed is to take an interest in anything we have for sale. You can find out what we have if you CLICK HERE and go to our shop. We’ll make a few percentage points (after sales tax) and this goes directly to our project.
Last, but as important as all the other points above, you can help us by reading, liking and sharing our content across some of the more popular platforms.
LinkedIn users you can CLICK HERE to follow us. Over 8000 people are following our story on LinkedIn right now.
Facebook users, you can CLICK HERE. 2652 followers so far.
YouTube users, you can CLICK HERE. We’re at past 1000 subscribers and growing.
Twitter users, you can CLICK HERE.
Instagram users, you can CLICK HERE.
Or follow us on WeChat using the QR code below.
It’s my turn it seems, to introduce myself, (Mark Propp) to the world, and ramble on a bit in a mildly amusing tone to fill up a page or two – hopefully without boring anyone to sleep. So here goes nothing. Back in the days of horses and carts, gas lamps and roosters for alarm […]
Read MoreIt’s my turn it seems, to introduce myself, (Mark Propp) to the world, and ramble on a bit in a mildly amusing tone to fill up a page or two – hopefully without boring anyone to sleep. So here goes nothing.
Back in the days of horses and carts, gas lamps and roosters for alarm clocks, near to Colorado Springs in a small town called Green Mountain Falls (see, I knew none of you would have ever heard of it…..not even the 1890 Victorian-style gazebo peering out onto a little lake is enough to make it famous) I was brought into this world and christened Mark Propp.
Propp is actually a name that originates from north Germany and was associated with gardeners and horticulturalists. It’s ranks as the 25,115th most popular name in the USA, and at the last count there were 988 of us living in the USA. How’s that for a bit of onomastic trivia to share with your friends next time you’re sipping whiskey?
Here’s where I really start to show my age. I did 30 years as an engineer and manager in the aerospace and electronics industry. I worked on space telescopes, some that point at the earth (like the kind that generate imagery for Google Earth), and some that point into deep space (like Kepler and James Webb Space Telescope).
My dream was to be an astronaut and go to the moon, but since nobody has been back to the moon since 1972, I had to settle for sending my software to space. If I wasn’t going to be the next Buzz Lightyear and head into infinity and beyond…….well….it would have to be……
About 14 years ago, after a number of business trips to China, I decided I’d had enough of the US of A. I’d like to have some really interesting story with some scandal or some politically infused rant, but to be honest, it was mostly about the opportunities for manufacturing engineers, which clearly is better in China than the USA in recent decades. My first 10 years in China I worked as an engineering manager and director in a few electronics factories.
I’d visited Shenzhen a few times before and fell in love with the energy, the pace of life, the buzz of being around so many people that seemed to be so amazing at pretty much everything. With a technology based background, being in Shenzhen was pretty much like being a kid in a sweet shop. All that and being able to live minutes away from the sea and be able to travel anywhere in just a few hours due to an amazing train network that I absolutely love. As an American, I can tell you first hand how terrible trains are in the USA.
I decided to have a career change too. I’d enjoyed some teaching back in the USA (I taught University Computer Science in the early 90’s) so I started off with doing some teaching here in China, first as a high school math teacher, and more recently teaching computer science and astronomy.
I chopped and changed a few times over the last 12 years, and ran a small software company for a while and even started my own craft beer brew pub, before moving out of the hustle and bustle of downtown, and settled out on Silver Beach in Huizhou where I live about 5 minutes walk from the beach and the sea.
For anyone that hasn’t been to China, get on a plane, fly over here, and see it for yourself! It’s so easy to get dragged into the tabloid style journalism “opinions”. Horror stories get clicks and views, its really that simple, but nothing that I’ve ever read is anywhere near the truth.
It’s a beautiful country, with amazing food, friendly people and a ridiculously low cost of living. It has absolutely everything you could ever want from a modern and developed country, but, even with so many cities being so huge and busy, you’re never more than about an hour away from peace and tranquility.
There are massive country parks everywhere. Mountains to climb. Hiking trails. Mountain biking. Amazing coastlines and as for holidays, you can literally go skiing on one day then fly to a tropical paradise beach and never even leave the country.
I’m actually one of the more recent investors, despite being aware of this project since inception and a close friend of “the man with the plan” for years. Unfortunately, I had kids to fund through school and college so spare cash wasn’t something I had much of when this project started. But I always knew I’d get involved as soon as I’d got rid of the financial burden of the Rugrat and she was working and independent of my wallet.
The opportunity for whisky in China is huge. I saw that while I was running my own craft beer brew pub. Whisky went from a foreigner only thing, to THE most talked about alcohol in just a couple of years. So commercially, it’s a massive opportunity. This is why there are now 40 or 50 whisky distillery projects either operating or under construction.
The question is, how will we stand out in the crowd because the market is going to get very saturated very quickly.
It’s going to come down to two things. Quality and price points. I think we’ll smash it out of the ball park on both points.
If you enjoyed reading our article about Mark Propp, and you would like to catch up with some of our past articles, then please CLICK HERE and go to our News Section, where most of our other content is published.
One of the easiest ways to help our project succeed is to take an interest in anything we have for sale. You can find out what we have if you CLICK HERE and go to our shop. We’ll make a few percentage points (after sales tax) and this goes directly to our project.
Last, but as important as all the other points above, you can help us by reading, liking and sharing our content across some of the more popular platforms.
LinkedIn users you can CLICK HERE to follow us. Over 8000 people are following our story on LinkedIn right now.
Facebook users, you can CLICK HERE. 2652 followers so far.
YouTube users, you can CLICK HERE. We’re at past 1000 subscribers and growing.
Twitter users, you can CLICK HERE.
Instagram users, you can CLICK HERE.
Or follow us on WeChat using the QR code below.
Time for me to pile in and introduce myself to the world – I’m Andy Perry, and I’m from absolutely nowhere, but now I’m somewhere, and I’m involved in something a little bit special in the form of Nine Rivers Distillery. Here’s my story. Leigh (not on the sea) I’m originally from Leigh, a nowhere […]
Read MoreTime for me to pile in and introduce myself to the world – I’m Andy Perry, and I’m from absolutely nowhere, but now I’m somewhere, and I’m involved in something a little bit special in the form of Nine Rivers Distillery. Here’s my story.
I’m originally from Leigh, a nowhere town that is almost part of Manchester, kind of considered to be part of Wigan, and also falls under the county of Lancashire. It’s not so much a case of everywhere wanting to claim it. It’s more a case of everywhere wanting to dump it on somewhere else.
It’s a town with about 40,000 people. Tiny in comparison to Beijing, the massive and modern city that I live in and call home, but it’s not completely terrible. It had a shopping mall built there in 2011 on the north side of the Bridgewater Canal, and boasts not only a Nando’s but it has a Frankie and Bennies too! One thing it doesn’t have anymore is Andy Perry.
Joking aside, it’s where I was born and bred so although I make fun of it now, it’s always going to be a special place for me.
I kicked off my career with a stint in the Royal Air Force for 22 years where I worked in logistics. Then I fancied a complete change in career so I decided to come to China to work in Education. I’ve been in China since 2012 and can’t think of anywhere in the world I’d rather be.
Of course China takes a bashing in western press, and people that have never been to China, lap up this bad journalism like kittens with a bowl of milk. As someone that has lived here for 12 years and built a life here, I can tell you all that 99% of the stories are complete nonsense. I came here with absolutely no knowledge or experience of China, fitted in quickly and easily and never looked back.
I took some time out from education between November 2020 and April 2021 to work in the movies! I was contracted to be a military consultant and instructor to train 130 foreign film extras to start in an epic movie made here in China.
I saw it as an amazing opportunity to live out the role of Ronald Lee Ermey, playing the drill instructor in Full Metal Jacket. But after my first 10 minutes of shouting, it was too difficult to keep a straight face and not laugh at the horror on the faces of the movie extras. So I toned it down, went back to being a nice guy.
My role expanded to include advising on the script of the movie and the stunts too. Then I ended up with another 200 film extras to instruct and train. It was an amazing 6 months and an experience that I will never forget.
I was recently asked how long I’ve been drinking whisky. I reached for the calculator and after about 10 minutes I realised it’s more than 25 years. I’m probably one of the most qualified whisky drinkers on the Nine Rivers Distillery project. Especially as so many of them are youngsters in comparison to me!
I’ve always been a big fan of smokey and peated whisky, although over the last few years, I’ve broadened my palate to try some other world whiskies in addition to just scotch.
I originally got involved in Nine Rivers Distillery in 2021. I’d been aware of the project since a few years before and I know many of the people involved, but I took a bit of caution initially just because of the sheer scale of the project.
The badly kept secrets of the Diageo and Pernod Ricard project, two of the biggest western spirits conglomerates in the world, were suggesting that even with their might and financial weight, they were putting together much smaller projects in China. A “dramfunded” project on a fraction of the budgets of the big boys, aiming to be 3.5 times bigger than Diageo’s project and 7 times bigger than Pernod Ricard all seemed a bit pie in the sky to me initially.
But as time went on, all the crazy ambitions started to fall into place. I had some friends who were already invested, I had seen some of the architecture renders over one of their shoulders and I had gotten to know Whisky Jesus himself over a few whisky-fuelled late night chats and I realised that this was so much more than big talk and hot air. It was going to happen and it was going to be something special.
Some time in November 2024, about 6 months away from writing this, I’ll be there on site. We’ll be finally filling our first casks and we’ll have something of an event for all the investors on site together.
I’m looking forward to it. It will no doubt be a weekend long event and it will not only be a chance for me to finally see what I’m part of, but an opportunity to meet some of the other 300+ people that have come together to make this happen. While I know all of those that are based in Beijing (where I am based) I’ve not met any of the others and only know them through LinkedIn and a WeChat group that we all share together.
I’ll also be able to get a photograph of me standing next to a brick with the name Andy Perry on it – well, because that’s my name isn’t it lol.
If you enjoyed reading our article about Andy Perry, and you would like to catch up with some of our past articles, then please CLICK HERE and go to our News Section, where most of our other content is published.
One of the easiest ways to help our project succeed is to take an interest in anything we have for sale. You can find out what we have if you CLICK HERE and go to our shop. We’ll make a few percentage points (after sales tax) and this goes directly to our project.
Last, but as important as all the other points above, you can help us by reading, liking and sharing our content across some of the more popular platforms.
LinkedIn users you can CLICK HERE to follow us. Over 8000 people are following our story on LinkedIn right now.
Facebook users, you can CLICK HERE. 2652 followers so far.
YouTube users, you can CLICK HERE. We’re at past 1000 subscribers and growing.
Twitter users, you can CLICK HERE.
Instagram users, you can CLICK HERE.
Or follow us on WeChat using the QR code below.
For those of you that missed the amazing micro-documentary put together by the team at FJICC, here’s another chance to see it. They deserve a click and a view, just for the expert editing work it too to ensure that not a single profanity from Jay, made the final release. CLIKE HERE TO WATECH IT […]
Read More
For those of you that missed the amazing micro-documentary put together by the team at FJICC, here’s another chance to see it.
They deserve a click and a view, just for the expert editing work it too to ensure that not a single profanity from Jay, made the final release.
If you enjoyed reading our article about Andy Perry, and you would like to catch up with some of our past articles, then please CLICK HERE and go to our News Section, where most of our other content is published.
One of the easiest ways to help our project succeed is to take an interest in anything we have for sale. You can find out what we have if you CLICK HERE and go to our shop. We’ll make a few percentage points (after sales tax) and this goes directly to our project.
Last, but as important as all the other points above, you can help us by reading, liking and sharing our content across some of the more popular platforms.
LinkedIn users you can CLICK HERE to follow us. Over 8000 people are following our story on LinkedIn right now.
Facebook users, you can CLICK HERE. 2652 followers so far.
YouTube users, you can CLICK HERE. We’re at past 1000 subscribers and growing.
Twitter users, you can CLICK HERE.
Instagram users, you can CLICK HERE.
Or follow us on WeChat using the QR code below.
The poll is officially closed. The votes are counted. The result is in. The winning choice, as voted for by YOU is, drum roll, The Witch and The Mayor. The backstory to the suggestion of these names is as follows: The genius behind this nomination was of course Tim Shaver. Who has decided in his […]
Read MoreThe poll is officially closed. The votes are counted. The result is in. The winning choice, as voted for by YOU is, drum roll, The Witch and The Mayor.
The backstory to the suggestion of these names is as follows:
The genius behind this nomination was of course Tim Shaver. Who has decided in his generosity to donate his prize to the nominator of the second most popular vote, Obi-Wan Stillobi and Luke Stillwalker, which was suggested by Tyler Nickerson.
Originally from Canada, Tyler now lives in Shenzhen in Guangdong.
“I’ve been watching the Nine Rivers Distillery project develop over the last few years, having first learned about it through one of those many crazy whisky groups that underpin the project. I try and follow most of the updates on social media and it’s been really interesting to finally see it all come to live over the last year.
I enjoyed one of the articles last year where one of the investors, Kevin Skraban, stepped up and admitted his love of Star Wars to the global audience. It just made sense to me to try and tie that in with the naming of the stills.
Who doesn’t love Star Wars right?”
We’ll be interviewing The Witch and The Mayor next week, to hear their feedback on their new found fame in our still house, right here at Nine Rivers Distillery, in Longyan.
If you enjoyed reading our article about our stills being named The Witch and The Mayor, and you would like to catch up with some of our past articles, then please CLICK HERE and go to our News Section, where most of our other content is published.
One of the easiest ways to help our project succeed is to take an interest in anything we have for sale. You can find out what we have if you CLICK HERE and go to our shop. We’ll make a few percentage points (after sales tax) and this goes directly to our project.
Last, but as important as all the other points above, you can help us by reading, liking and sharing our content across some of the more popular platforms.
LinkedIn users you can CLICK HERE to follow us. Over 7000 people are following our story on LinkedIn right now.
Facebook users, you can CLICK HERE. 2652 followers so far.
YouTube users, you can CLICK HERE. We’re at past 1000 subscribers and growing.
Twitter users, you can CLICK HERE.
Instagram users, you can CLICK HERE.
Or follow us on WeChat using the QR code below.