Based in Great Yeldham Hall in Essex, English Spirit Distillery was launched by biochemist and Oxford scholar Dr John Walters in 2011. Dr John, as he is affectionately referred to, had been listening to a programme on Radio 4 about eau de vie when he decided to have a go himself.
It wasn’t too long before his four-litre home still had become Cambridgeshire’s first distillery. This spawned the move to Essex where he added a further twenty, 200l stills to the operation, before launching a second ‘Spirit’ destination in Cornwall last October.
Unlike many artisan distilleries, English Spirit Distillery produces an array of tipples, including an award-winning spiced rum, a single malt and even an English sambuca.
“We started with vodka and then gin and then I kept going and I thought, ‘Why isn’t anyone producing rum?’. After making it for a decade or so, I know why, it’s very messy and it’s really hard work.
“The natural thing in business as in life is to progress, to try other stuff. Actually, it’s a bit like cooking – you don’t always just want to cook a chicken do you?”
Making friends
The company realised quickly that one of the best ways to grow the business was to offer its services to ‘partner ventures’. One memorable link-up, John recalls, was with Tottenham Hotspur FC which wanted to mark its departure from the beloved White Hart Lane with a commemorative gin. “So keen was the club to incorporate the ground into its brew it sent a large slice of the pitch as one of the possible ingredients,” he laughs.
“We started with our own money – we didn’t have oceans in the bank – and contracting became part of the business,” John explains. “But doing that also helps our organic growth as you have someone coming along, saying, ‘Can you make so and so for us’. We were always experimenting and creating so it is a good fit.
“Actually it makes you a richer – in terms of skills and creativity - and a better business as you are being challenged by different technical aspects, fermentations, distilling styles and so on. We are lucky to have some really enthusiastic people here, so we have the talent to keep polishing it.”
Not only are John and his team keen to experiment with a range of different flavours and methods, but they are also happy to explore different outlets too. Last year saw the opening of Treguddick Distillery, near Launceston in Cornwall, the company’s second base which also offers a unique distillery tour (where you can see botanicals growing in a raft of Eden Project-style domes), a café and a shop.
The attraction has so far been a big hit with locals, and in true English Spirit Distillery fashion, has hatched a new product – the Boozy Ketchup.
“I just thought why not add a little bit of our spiced rum to an umami and make it a boozy ketchup,” says John. “We started serving it in our Cornwall café and people loved it and asked where they could buy it.
“So decided to give a go and it’s really exciting. I think food is going to become an integrated part of our business. I can’t think of anything better than to sit down with some friends or family, share an enjoyable meal and just be together – that’s what it’s about.”
Alongside the ketchup, John is now looking at plum gin jam, a spicy brown sauce and an Asian-style condiment complete with vodka.
As well as constantly coming up with new opportunities, the company also dedicates a lot of time to thinking up ways it can reduce its carbon footprint and support other local makers.
Local to the last
“I am big into small businesses – 100%. Smaller companies are obsessed with quality and so responsive on things like waste and the environment, and you can see the benefit when you help that kind of business grow.
“Supermarkets have their place but you cannot beat local. Given the choice between a local butcher and a multiple, the butcher wins every time. I can see the quality of the meat, where it has come from, talk about recipes, what’s in season and so on. I don’t want to be eating strawberries in January. I want to eat root vegetables, constantly trying to work out how I can make that turnip taste different five days on the trot.”
Tags:
