Monday, September 15, 2014

THE STILLS ARE ALIVE AT THE COTSWOLD DISTILLERY

Last week The Cotswolds Distillery began distilling both their single malt whisky from organic Cotswolds barley and their Cotswolds Dry Gin; a traditional London dry style with a Cotswolds twist.

After a delivery of malted organic Odyssey barley from Warminster Maltings, the Cotswolds Distillery fired up their mill and mash tun and have completed the first stages of their first batch whisky production.

The first batch of Cotswolds Single Malt will be bottled in 3 years time.

From the mash tun, the wort was sent to the fermenters for a 72 hour period, before being sent to the distillery’s bespoke copper wash still crafted by coppersmiths and still makers, Forsyths. In the wash still the first stages of distillation occurred to create a ‘low-wine’ at around 21% alcohol by volume.

The next stage for the distillery which is scheduled to start today, is further distillation of this low wine using their spirit still to increase the alcohol content, before adding their finishing water and sending to cask at around 63.5% ABV. This is an incredibly exciting time for the distillery as the spirit distilled this week, after its obligatory 3 year ageing period, will be the first batch of Cotswolds single malt ever produced.

Not only has distillation started on the whisky side of production, but the distilling team also fired up their Holstein still to create their first ever batch of Cotswolds Dry Gin. With a 12 hour maceration of the core botanicals (juniper, coriander and angelica) overnight on Tuesday, the Cotswolds lavender, bay leaf, black pepper and cardamom was added into the still on Wednesday morning along with the fresh lime and grapefruit peel into the botanical chamber and the rectification commenced.

The still ran for around 6 hours after the initial 12 hour maceration, creating the first ever batch of the Cotswolds Dry Gin. The spirit will now be rested until September 19th when the first bottling run is scheduled in.

Dan Szor, Distillery Founder, commented on the news by saying: “We’re so excited that our first spirit has now been distilled and the hard work and dedication from the team has paid off. It's been an incredible journey so far and we have an amazing time ahead of us, I can’t wait to see the first bottles on shelves!”

The Inaugural Release (46% ABV) first bottling run is planned for September 19th and will be available from the end of this month with an RRP of £34.95.

Source: The Cotswolds Distillery