Episode 8. Beanie Espey: Growing Up and Giving Back

BEANIE GERAEDTS-ESPEY IS THE MANAGING DIRECTOR OF DISTILLERS VENTURES LIMITED, THE CHARITABLE ARM of London Livery Company, the Worshipful Company of Distillers. As such, she is responsible for the Distillers One of One Auction: a bi-annual charity auction which can lay claim to being the largest Scotch Whisky Auction in the world.

However, in addition to her current role, Beanie has many other reasons to be our eighth guest on The Remarkable: her father is James Espey, OBE, a man with an illustrious career in the drinks industry (and an OBE for services to Scotch Whisky), and also – with Rebecca’s father, Tom – the co-founder of The Last Drop Distillers. Beanie and Rebecca joined The Last Drop together in 2014, and were joint managing directors until 2018.

Beanie is an accomplished luxury brand builder with a passion for whisky – and sherry! Following a degree in modern languages at the University of Oxford, Beanie joined L’Oreal and built her early career in beauty, with both L’Oreal and Chanel, in the UK and Hong Kong. In Hong Kong, she founded her own small marketing agency which led her to begin working with James and The Last Drop. “I grew up surrounded by the drinks industry and – in fact – my parents met while both working at IDV, so I suppose it was inevitable that I’d end up in the industry at some stage.”

Over the last few years, Beanie has set up her own boutique sherry brand, worked with Rebecca to build their fathers’ vision into a truly remarkable business, and embark on her latest role as the MD of Distillers’ Ventures. This auction, which brings the biggest and smallest names in the Scotch Whisky industry together with a shared interest, was set up “to attract the attention of a global network of buyers”, attending in person, calling in or bidding online from the four corners of the world.

The proceeds of the auction, run by Sotheby’s, go to support the work of the Youth Action Fund. Beanie says, “we made a commitment that 100% of the proceeds will go to charity, and 90% of it will flow directly back to Scotland, to provide long term support for charities working to transform the lives of young people there.”