Yorkshire distillery releases inaugural gin
A Yorkshire-based gin and whisky distillery has completed production of its pioneering inaugural gin.
Cooper King Distillery, England’s first self-built gin and whisky distillery, has released its highly anticipated first batch of gin, Cooper King Dry Gin, today, Tuesday 22 May 2018, which is available through its online store.
Hand distilled using honey from the distillery’s beehives, beautiful lemongrass and a touch of locally grown lavender, the gin has incredible savoury lemongrass flavours, a silky mouthfeel and delicate floral notes. It is produced in micro-batches by uniting state-of-the-art vacuum distillation with a traditional copper pot still, before being bottled and labelled at the distillery.
The distillery will invite local people and tourists to experience first-hand how gin and whisky is made, with a production area, cask maturation warehouse, tasting-room and spirit shop opening to the public this summer.
Following a successful pre-sale for Cooper King Distillery newsletter subscribers, the gin will be available to purchase on the Cooper King Distillery website, as well as in various independent retailers.
Established in 2014 by co-founders Chris Jaume, a chartered architect and Dr Abbie Neilson, a former scientist, Cooper King Distillery is based in Sutton-on-the-Forest in North Yorkshire, on the site of a former horse’s stable.
With a desire to leave the rat-race, Chris and Abbie travelled across the globe and became fascinated by the eight operational whisky distilleries in Tasmania. With a mission to bring their discoveries back to Britain, the couple gave up their established careers and set up a truly independent gin and whisky distillery.
The first self-built gin and whisky distillery in England, Cooper King Distillery had a team of friends, family and Founders’ Club members working together on the construction. Following completion, the first batch of gin went into production in April 2018.
The company holds a strong focus on having a positive impact on the environment, having partnered with green energy specialists Ecotricity it is one of only a handful of distilleries in England to be run on 100% green energy.
It has also become the first European distillery to join international environmental initiative 1% for the Planet, through which it pledges to donate 1% of annual sales of the flagship gin to support non-profits.
Cooper King Distillery’s contribution will be used to plant 1 square metre of native woodland for every bottle of Cooper King Dry Gin sold through a partnership with the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust, which will see the company plant more than 400 trees over the next 12 months.
The company will mark the initial distillery launch at a private celebratory event which will take place in June, showcasing various Yorkshire suppliers in line with their collaborative values.
Commenting on the launch of their flagship gin, co-founder of Cooper King Distillery Abbie Neilson said:
“We are extremely excited that we are finally able to share our gin with the world! Having begun this journey more than four years ago and given up our careers to chase this dream, it is truly amazing to see the support we receive day in day out.
“Our Founders’ Club members have been fantastic and we recently sold-out of our ‘Juniper’ membership. It’s really great to see that people genuinely do value independent, honest produce and we can’t wait to hear the feedback on our first batch.”