Firstly We have to start by saying that WE LOVE GIN!
Everything about the process of turning a neutral spirit into something that is bespoke to us, with the perfect flavour and quality has been a pleasure to focus on for the past 3 years.
But as we look to the future, we want to make sure that our distillery isn't left behind the times and is considered a one trick pony.
As my tipple of choice on a rare night off is a good Caribbean rum, there was only one rabbit hole I wanted to go down.
Enter our new journey into the world of Rum.
Now, there are many ways to skin a cat (We hate that expression) and the same is true for rum production in the UK.
The vast majority of UK rum companies you might find on the shelves is in fact born in an entirely different part of the world. The Rum is Fermented, Distilled and aged by another company and then transported to the UK where it is flavoured, aged in a different cask, blended or even bottled straight away and sold with a new brands labelling. A dream come true if you want to get ahead of the trend and dont want the hassle and outlay of running a still and applying for a distillers licence.
But we want to do things differently. We want to produce a true, craft, British born rum. That is entirely our own and created from scratch here in the west country of England.
And that is what we have done. (almost)
Just before the turn of 2023 we were granted a full distillers licence, giving us the go ahead to turn a natural ingredient (sugar cane molasses in our case) into an alcoholic beverage.
I began sourcing equipment and raw ingredients straight away, enabling trials to begin in early January.
To date we have fermented 4 totally different yeast strains in tiny batches (this is where the final products flavour profile will be determined) and distilled the wash multiple times using our traditional copper alembic stills.
And the results so far????
Surprisingly good, So good in fact that we have now scaled up our favourite trial batch and it is fermenting away as I type.
This batch will be run through our main still "Louise" but as we've discovered so far, there is no timeframe on fermentation. We are currently 9 days in and there seems to be a little more sugar in our tank for our yeast to consume. We dont have heating in the distillery which slows fermentation (oh to live in the Caribbean) but a long fermentation should transfer into a tasty liquid.
(Fingers crossed)
While this is all going on, The hunt has begun for the perfect Bottle, Label and cork which will do our new spirit justice. Plenty more on this to come.
But the big news is that this new range will sport all new branding
We will be releasing future spirits (Not Gin) using the newly registered company City Borders Spirit Co.
Again there will be plenty more on this to follow but for now please head over to your socials and give @city.borders.spirit.co a follow to stay up to date with all the goings on in the distillery.
I hope you have enjoyed my first Blog.
It's been something I've wanted to do for a while and as we are in a new era I thought it would be a good way to convey exactly what i'm up to here in the freezing cold distillery.
Future Blogs will delve deeper into the production process of our new rum and I will keep you up to date with the story as it unfolds as well as plans for our Gin range, Distillery Bar and Bottle shop.
Thanks for reading (hopefully someone has)
Joe
“popped in” for a G&T at 12 yesterday. Ended up staying all day. A lovely environment, superb service, fantastic music and the gin is beautiful.
Love the new branding, so stylish. Can’t wait to give it a try!
Hey Joe,
I know very little about Rum so learnt a great deal from this. Looking forward to trying the rum once it’s available. Well done.
Ant.