A GIN distillery is making a real splash as it establishes itself as one of the finest spirit makers across the globe.

Batch Brew, based in Burnley, began life in the basement of a terraced house in 2015 and has now become an internationally-acclaimed distillery.

They recently won double gold at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition (SFWSC) for its Industrial Strength, a silver for its organic vodka and a bronze for its Buddha's Hand gin.

Those are just the latest for the Habergham Mill distillery, which is planning to expand its operation after a stellar year.

But all the bottles are labelled with love as the small six-man operation do everything from mixing the ingredients to make the spirits to bottling and sending out deliveries.

And marketing manager Johdi Dinsdale said the little distillery had come a long way in a short time.

She said: "The brewery came into being after a chat between our head distiller, Oli Sanderson, and his uncle Phil Whitwell, who owns the company.

"Phil is well-travelled and likes the copa glass and garnish of the drinks over there so they got onto the topic of gin.

"Oli had just moved into a new house with a big basement so they put some equipment in there and started the first run. And the rest is history.

"Gin is really the "in" thing at the moment and we have built up a very loyal customer base. We do everything by hand and we don't cut any corners in quality.

"To get the awards we did at the SFWSC is an amazing achievement. People really appreciate our product. Our Christmas gin, which was the December gin of the month with the Craft Gin Club, had hints of Frankincense and Myrrh, and was a huge hit.

"We have around a hundred subscribers to our Batch Innovations club, which we only launched in January, and we supply to our local Booths store, as well as smaller independent stores around East Lancashire.

"We're having to relocate our offices as we are getting so busy."

But the firm aren't just concentrating on gin and vodka as they are always experimenting to create new flavour combinations.

Johdi said: "We can make around 3,000 bottles a month, which is why we are moving our offices as we are becoming more and more successful.

"We are laying down a malt whisky at the moment and we have done rums in the past. And we have an apprentice distiller, Ryan Evans, and he is always looking at new combinations.

"Customers are changing the way they drink, and they are more willing to try new things now. Our customers are liking what we do. We only moved into the mill about 18 months ago so you can see how quickly we have grown."