Our Process
We are a distillery that is doing things differently and everything we do is centred around flavour creation and quality. Our production methods have all been developed in-house through trial and error with extensive research and education as the foundation.
Landrace and Heritage Grain Varieties
We use landrace and heritage grains like Plumage Archer and Maris Otter to produce our new make spirit. And yes barley variety has a massive impact on flavor - try our new makes to see.
Grains like Plumage Archer are also a landrace variety which means they have to be farmed differently - regeneratively and organically, with out the use of chemicals which has major benefits for soil health.
Yeast
We use a whole variety for yeasts from English ale yeasts to Norwegian Kevik yeasts and bacteria, with traditional and thermo-tolerant distilling yeast used in blends - we have never fermented with just distilling strains!
The one thing we have found is that if you chase alcoholic yield you will sacrifice flavour.
Water
I would love to say we have a well on site but the truth of it is that we simply use a blend of finest Somerset tap water (very hard) and RO water (to reduce water hardness), we ensure there are enough minerals in the water to keep the yeast happy to aid a healthy fermentation.
Mashing and Fermentation
We use a traditional infusion mash tun, milling the grain directly before mashing in. we typically transfer 1500L-1700L of wort to the fermenter with an OG of 1.055-1.070 depending on what we are aiming to produce.
Fermentations take place in our 2200L stainless steel temperature controlled fermenters. We can can control the fermentation by applying external heating or cooling so fermentation profiles can be consistent in both summer and winter.
Distillation
Our direct fired copper pot still have a massive impact on the flavour of our new make. Caramalisation and mallard reactions caused by the direct flame on copper and the residual sugars in our wort really adds to the DNA of our spirit.
Our still are all manually controlled and all cuts on the spirt run are made by taste and aroma of the new make.
Maturation
All cask maturation takes place at the distillery, we fill casks ranging in size from octaves to hogsheads and will next year be filling a couple of butts and pipes.
We have filled everything from new oak/chestnut to fortified wine and are always on the look out for something different to age our spirit in.