Our Spirits
We are obsessed with authenticity. That means being open and truthful about our production methods. That’s why we say ‘If our spirits could talk, they’d only ever tell the truth. Wherever possible, we use our hands to handcraft various elements to make our spirits. Like hand-crushing the Juniper and other botanicals for our much-loved gin. Some spirits are imitations, whilst a great number of others are produced under factory-like conditions. We liken our approach to the arts and crafts movement of the 1860s which turned its back on the banal uniformity of mass production by machine. Enough said, we think.
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DURHAM GIN PRODUCTION METHOD
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Durham Gin begins its life by hand-crushing Juniper berries, an essential component of any gin. These are added among other robust botanicals, including Angelica and Pink Peppercorn, and placed in a mixture of locally sourced Durham spring water and pure grain spirit. Left to infuse overnight in the still to ‘Lily’ our 400-litre copper pot still; this process is called maceration.
OUR BOTANICALS
Vodka is traditionally colourless and flavourless, our spirit, therefore, is left completely pure following refining and filtration.
Gin, however, is a whole new story. The spirit is distilled with carefully selected botanicals to produce the much-loved, and unique flavour profile of our Durham Gin. Where possible these botanicals are sourced locally, such as Juniper and Elderflower, celery seed, and pink peppercorn.
The original Durham Gin
Durham Gin begins its life by hand-crushing Juniper berries, an essential component of any gin. These are added among other robust botanicals, including Angelica and Pink Peppercorn, and placed in a mixture of locally sourced Durham spring water and pure grain spirit.
Durham cask-aged gin
Durham Cask Aged Gin embraces the art of cask aging, a technique most commonly used in the production of whisky, to create a richness of colour not usually associated with gin.
The cask aging process also adds a fourth level of flavour to Durham Gin’s unique combination of botanicals. Each year we create a unique blend of cask-aged, this year’s edition sees our signature Durham Gin rested in casks for over 18 months with the 3 casks having produced just over 1000 bottles. This is one of the longest cask ageing processes used anywhere in the world.
We use two complementary types of aged oak casks, American Bourbon and Spanish Oloroso Sherry; this combination reveals fruity and honeyed complexity with subtle vanilla and citrus zest top notes. The American Bourbon cask itself offers a vanilla bean, caramel, and oak finish, while the Spanish Oloroso offers spicy sweet fruit with honey and orange peel.
The combination just works so well and tastes really, very special.
A really special and unique craft Gin, with a truly distinctive flavour.
Durham sloe Gin
We make our classic Sloe Gin by macerating English sloe berries, with our signature Durham Gin, and some raw honey from a local beekeeper.
The combination of tart sloe berries, the warming spice of our classic Durham Gin and a gentle sweetness from raw Durham honey give a wonderfully rounded flavour. We think it’s key to get the balance of flavours just so and our sloe gin balances spicy, and sweet with tart fruit.
Durham Sloe Gin is wonderfully vibrant and warm with just a hint of cherry and pepper! Perfect for the cold winter nights!
Tasting Notes:
Sweet: Soft, sweet, honey
Tart: Balanced with fresh clean Sloes
Spicy: A hint of the spicy pepper and coriander notes from our classic Gin
Durham Mango Gin
Launched in the summer of 2020, our Mango Gin was developed during lockdown and we wanted to make something unashamedly fun to cheers ourselves up after Covid. We picked Mango to work with because we loved the flavour and it wanted to continue the tradition we started with the
original Durham Gin - combining local flavours with their opposites - flavours from around the world.
This new, unique blend of botanicals gives a slightly different base to the classic Durham Gin, but still true to ourblocal roots. The Mango Gin also sees the removal of the savoury celery seed found in Durham Gin and orange and lemon peels have been replaced with grapefruit and lime.
In order to get the right flavour profile, we have also doubled the amount of the peels used to give us a greater citrus burst.
The recipe retains the classic Juniper flavour which is central to any gin and also the delicate, warm spice of Pink Peppercorn.
We wanted to work with real Mangos to create a powerful flavour and we spent a long (and fun) time testing different techniques to capture an authentic Mango flavour. We’ve added dried Mango to both the initial maceration (where the botanicals are soaked) and also to the gin basket where the spirit is infused with vapour.
After distillation, the Mango Gin is finally rested with a mix of fresh Mango Syrup (no artificial flavours or colours here!) and pring water for around 4 or 5 days to really infuse the mango flavour.
After it has rested, we then filter out all of the syrup to leave us with a light and refreshing gin without any of the sticky, sweetness often associated with flavoured gins.
Tasting Notes:
Citrus – A burst of citrus from Mango, Lime, and Grapefruit
Spicy – Gentle warmth from Pink Peppercorn
Sweet – Classic flavours of Juniper and Elderflower
Durham Vodka
We make all of our products using a traditional steam power copper still. This gives a beautiful smooth flavour but isn’t the most efficient process!
We collect the tails of the Gin, and we slow filter it through a custom-built filtration column based on the Lincoln County Column used by Jack Daniels. It takes up to 2 weeks to filter the Vodka through the column, which means that we can only make a very small amount of it.
The filtrate is then re-distilled, we use the same set-up for the gin but we change the Lyne Arm on Lily over to a straight tube,
as a basket to infuse flavours is not required for our vodka. We take another heads and tails cut, this time even more restrictive than when we make Gin. This production method produces the smoothest vodka that is most sippable.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Neutral and clean nose, just a hint of sweetness.
Palate: Very smooth, with no harsh alcohol burn, and just a tiny bit of
natural vanilla sweetness.
Finish: Long clean finish
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Durham Whisky
Whiskey PackagesOur Whisky is made using a mix of traditional and modern methods to create a really distinct spirit. We use a blend of different malts and yeasts, some traditional Whisky ingredients, others borrowed from craft brewing to create a classic Single Malt Whisky, with a real depth and complexity of flavour. The spirits is matured using Bourbon and Sherry Casks, plus a small number of Virigin Oak casks.
The first batch will be ready to drink in 2026