KENT, UK. February 23rd, 2026 – An award-winning gin distillery founded by a Kent family is expanding after launching a new membership subscription.
Jonomade Gin has announced the plans after experiencing its most successful month ever in December 2025. The company, which was founded in 2018, is also allowing 24 people who take up membership to input into its recipe development in the future.
Founder Matt Blackmore said: “We are delighted to announce our new membership subscription, which coincides with four limited editions that we have ready to launch. I am also working very, very hard on a zero alcohol option that accurately replicates the alcohol version.”
Jonomade is a conglomeration of the names of the four members of the Blackmore clan – sons Josh and Noah, dad Matt and mum Debbie. The firm’s logo is a circle divided in two, to reflect the fact that Deb and Josh were born in the UK and Matt and Noah in New Zealand.
The business was born after elder son Josh suffered a serious knee injury which put paid to his plans to start a sports degree at home in Auckland. With his mental health suffering, Debbie suggested he drew up a list of potential alternatives.
Matt recalled the day the family’s new direction was decided – and the role an inexperienced barman had to play: “I suggested we go for a drink and Josh bring his notepad to discuss ideas,” he said.
“We went to bar and ordered a couple of G+Ts. The newbie behind the bar poured the full 200ml bottle of tonic into a single measure of gin. He destroyed the drink, but he did, unwittingly, give us our USP. What if we could make a flavour-packed gin that stood up to any mixer – or, indeed, a heavy-handed barman?”
Josh was keen to return to the UK and with Noah about to change schools and Matt finding himself at a crossroads in his career, in January 2018 the family decided to take the leap and move across the world to begin their new business.
Distilling began in August 2019 at the firm’s base in Sevenoaks. “We knew what we didn’t want to be,” said Matt. “A lot of businesses and products want to be all things to all people, but actually I don’t want to be in Wetherspoons. Every category I can think of is moving from the middle ground to either end of the spectrum between convenience and value or ‘I’m getting a real, genuine experience so I’m going to pay for that’. You have either got Amazon or you have got Fortnum and Mason.”
Then Covid hit: “And we successfully turned our business into a hobby,” said Matt. After working as an online shopper for Sainsbury’s, he found himself unable to break back into the corporate world and threw himself into the business after the family realised it was time to stick or twist.
“I had entered the gins into the London gin competition through 2020-22 and each of our brands won medals every year,” said Matt. “The people coming into the distillery loved our story, loved what we were trying to do. It just seemed a shame to leave it all behind.
“So last year I gave up full-time work, reset the business, and looked at upskilling, because perhaps I did not have the skills as an entrepreneur that I thought I had. We had our most successful month ever in December 2025. The reason I know we are on the right track is Noah said to me ‘You are more like Dad now,’ – so the years of struggle are leading to good things, and not just from a business perspective.
“We have put ourselves in this amazing position where we have got wonderful products, we have got unbelievably loyal customers, both from a business-to-business perspective but also consumers coming to the distillery regularly.
“I feel like we are about to become an overnight success that has been years in the making.”
To find out more, visit jonomade.com.
ENDS