From
cheap Mother’s Ruin to £2,000 a bottle for Watenshi, the World’s most expensive;
gin has been part of our culture for over 400 years. Lucinda Merriman visits
Warner Edwards, craft distillers in Northamptonshire to find out why ‘boutique
brewing’ is such big business.
I had my first G & T in a hotel lounge
in Haywards Heath at the age of 40 and being a firm favourite ever since, when an
invitation arrived for a tour of our local craft distillery Warner Edwards at
Falls Farm in Harrington, Northamptonshire; I was keen to take up the kind
offer.
With instructions to meet at the Tollemache
Arms pub in Harrington at 2:45pm, ready for the tour at 3:00pm, the majority of
the party decided to ignore this simple request arriving in dribs and drabs
until 3.15pm. At last however, we were off following partner Tom Warner out
through the pub’s front door and off along the road and into a field.
Being a ‘country girl’ and hearing that the
distillery was on a farm, I decided to wear suitable footwear but was amused to
see a number of our group were clad in high heels unsuitable for a hike through
an undulating grass field complete with cows and their pats.
After a hesitant start – people hanging on
to one another for support, a few dissenting murmurs about whether the cows were
man-eaters, we walked along the top of Falls field with grassy terraces to our
left and a stunning view down the valley to our right. Tom stopped us halfway and began his tour with
the history of the farm and the location of three natural springs, used to
‘finish’ their gins.
I was fascinated to learn that we were
standing on the remains of huge terraces of a monumental post-medieval garden,
which at one time led down to a house and a network of fishponds at the bottom
of the valley. There’s not much to see now but taking into account the stunning
view and scale of the garden, this must have been a truly amazing sight in it’s
heyday.
Making our way into Falls farmyard, we paused to admire the exterior of the
200-year old converted distilling barn (formerly used as a ‘hospital’ for
ailing livestock), before entering and placing our G & T orders – Dry,
Elderflower or Rhubarb.
I opted for the elderflower which had a pleasing blueish hue and tasted
light and refreshing – I can’t claim to say that I tasted all the subtle
botanicals, which included both dried and fresh elderflower but it was lovely on
this hot July afternoon.
Standing in the newly planted ‘botanical garden’ sipping our drinks, Tom enthusiastically
explained how he had built it as an homage to his mother and as a source of
inspiration for his next gin flavour. Currently they are experimenting with Lemon
Balm and hope to launch with this in September.
G & T’s polished off and ‘glowing’ we
were soon back in the barn being introduced to ‘Curiosity’ the copperpot still
custom built in Germany by Arnold Holstein. Tom explained the gin making process,
which is clearly a labour of love and very lucrative given gin sales in the UK are
estimated to reach £1 billion this year.
The tour finished with a tasting of four
gins: Dry, Elderflower, Rhubarb and Sloe.
Tasting neat gin is in my opinion not the best way to appreciate them
but I bravely pushed on and ended up buying both the Dry and the Rhubarb before
leaving with a big gin-grin on my face. Cheers!
I took part in a corporate tour with VertoUK, Creative Web & Graphic Design.
Normal tours are held every Wednesday at
7.00pm (minimum of 10 people).
Tour tickets: £15 per person with £5
redeemable in the distillery shop and a G & T upon arrival.
To make a booking call 01536 710623 or
email tours@warneredwards.com
No comments:
Post a Comment