Type | Distillery |
---|---|
Industry | Beverages |
Founded | 2017 |
Headquarters | Oxford, England |
Key people | Tom Nicolson(founder) Dave Smith (chairman) & Chico Rosa (master distiller) |
Products | Alcoholic beverages: spirits, including gin, vodka, whisky, and liqueurs |
Website | www |
The Oxford Artisan Distillery (TOAD, previously known as The Spirit of TOAD) is the first ever legal distillery in Oxford, England. [1] It is the first certified organic "grain-to-glass" distillery in the United Kingdom, covering all parts of the distillery process. [2] [3] [4]
The distillery is located at the top end of South Park, Headington, in the Old Depot of Oxford City Council at the former Cheney Farm. It was founded in 2017 [5] by Tom Nicolson, Cory Mason, and Tagore Ramoutar, distilling rye whisky, gin, and vodka. [3] [6] [7] Shares were offered to the public in 2017. [8] [9]
Four organic farms close to Oxford supply the distillery with rye, wheat, and barley. [3] [6] The distillery uses ancient species of grains. [10] [11]
The largest still at the distillery is nicknamed "Nautilus" and has a capacity of 2,400 litres, with a column of 42 plates in two parts. A smaller still with a 500-litre capacity is known as "Nemo". The stills are named after the submarine and its captain in the Jules Verne 1870 science fiction novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas . Both were built by South Devon Railway Engineering [6] [12] and are in a steampunk style, made of copper.
TOAD's gin has been judged among the top hundred available. [13] The distillery is a craft gin maker. [14] Early in 2020, Dave Smith took over as chairman from Neil Brown. [15] Later in 2020, the distillery attained organic certification. [16] The distillery was shortlisted for the Sustainable Use of Raw Materials Award in the 2019 Footprint Drinks Sustainability Awards. [17] The distillery's products were judged as among the best food and drink from Oxfordshire in 2020. [18]
The distillery produces its own Oxford Rye Organic Dry Gin and Oxford Rye Organic Vodka. The distillery also uses its dry gin to produce a Dam Sloe Gin made from wild damsons and sloe. In 2018, the distillery launched its Oxford Physic Gin in collaboration with the University of Oxford Botanic Garden, using ingredients grown in the garden, and sold at the garden. [19] [20] [21] Later in 2018, an Ashmolean Dry Gin was launed in collection with the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, featuring spices from the Middle East and Asia to reflect the museums collections. [22] Early in 2020, the distillery started to produce a pink gin liqueur. [23] With the coming of the COVID-19 pandemic, the distillery also started to produce its own hand sanitiser in 2020. [24] Also in 2020, the distillery started to produce an organic gin for Prince Charles, using herbs from his garden at Highgrove House, [25] stocked at Fortnum & Mason in London. [26] [27] In Spring 2021, the distillery launched its rye whisky, [28] [29] produced by the Portuguese master distiller, Chico Rosa. [30]
The distillery includes a Grade II listed barn building, [31] listed in 1972 and now used as a bar and tasting room serving the distillery's products.
Canadian whisky is a type of whisky produced in Canada. Most Canadian whiskies are blended multi-grain liquors containing a large percentage of corn spirits, and are typically lighter and smoother than other whisky styles. When Canadian distillers began adding small amounts of highly-flavourful rye grain to their mashes, people began demanding this new rye-flavoured whisky, referring to it simply as "rye". Today, as for the past two centuries, the terms "rye whisky" and "Canadian whisky" are used interchangeably in Canada and refer to exactly the same product, which generally is made with only a small amount of rye grain.
Gin is a distilled alcoholic drink that derives its flavour from juniper berries and other botanical ingredients.
Whisky or whiskey is a type of liquor made from fermented grain mash. Various grains are used for different varieties, including barley, corn, rye, and wheat. Whisky is typically aged in wooden casks, which are typically made of charred white oak. Uncharred white oak casks previously used for the aging of port, rum or sherry are also sometimes used.
Plymouth Gin is a style and brand of gin that has been distilled on the same premises on the Barbican in Plymouth, Devon, since 1793. The site of production, the Plymouth Gin Distillery, was built in 1431 and is reputed to have once been a monastery of the Dominican Order, widely known as "Black Friars". For this reason, it has traditionally been called the "Black Friars Distillery", and this name appears embossed on the gin bottles. The taste profile of the style has been described as "earthy", and featuring more citrus notes than the "London Dry" gin style, of which Plymouth Gin is considered an offshoot, or subtype.
William Grant & Sons Ltd is an independent, family-owned Scottish company that distills Scotch whisky and other selected categories of spirits. It was established in 1887 by William Grant, and is run by Grant's descendants as of 2018. It is the largest of the handful of Scotch whisky distillers remaining in family ownership.
Beefeater Gin is a brand of gin owned by Pernod Ricard and bottled and distributed in the United Kingdom. Beefeater remained in the control of its founding Burrough family until 1987. It is a 47% or 44% alcohol product in the US, and a 40% alcohol product elsewhere in the world. The Beefeater distillery is one of 24 in London.
Sipsmith is a microdistillery located in London. It is the first copper-pot distillery to open within Greater London' in nearly two centuries. It has been a subsidiary of Beam Suntory since December 2016.
Distilleries in Canada are distillers of various alcoholic distilled beverages (spirits) such as whisky, rum, vodka, brandy, gin, etc. in the country of Canada.
Sacred Spirits is a microdistillery in Highgate, London. It distills its spirits under a vacuum in glassware, and thus at a lower temperature than traditional pot stills, which operate at atmospheric pressure. The microdistillery operates out of the back room of a residential house, with a vacuum plant in a wendy house in the distiller's back garden. It is an authorised Customs and Excise distillery.
English whisky is a malt whisky or grain whisky produced in England. There are currently 49 whisky distilleries across 9 regions in England that currently produce it, all at various stages of development with the oldest distillery brewing whisky for nearly 20 years.
St. George Spirits is an artisanal distillery located in Alameda, California that produces a range of alcoholic beverages under the direction of Master Distiller Lance Winters. They are known for producing vodka, absinthe, whiskey, gin, brandy, liqueurs, and a range of exotic spirits.
Wigle Whiskey is an artisan small batch whiskey distillery in the Strip District neighborhood of Pittsburgh. Wigle Whiskeys are the flagship products of the Pittsburgh Distilling Company, LLC, which is entirely family owned and operated.
The London Distillery Company, also known as TLDC, was a distillery based in Bermondsey, London. Originally located in Battersea TLDC produced English whisky, Rye whisky, London gin and British spirits, compounds and cordials. TLDC also created experimental spirits under the TESTBED brand; named after the art space of similar ethos by architect Will Alsop.
The production of distilled spirits in New Jersey has not been a large industry in the state. Strict alcoholic beverage control laws in place during and after Prohibition (1919–1933) prevented the industry from growing for almost a century. In 2013, the state passed a law creating a craft distillery license. and issued the first new distillery license since Prohibition to Jersey Artisan Distilling.
Chase Distillery, Ltd. was a British single-estate distillery based in Herefordshire, United Kingdom. William Chase, the former owner and founder of Tyrrells crisps, founded the family-run business in 2008. Using ingredients sourced on-site at Rosemaund Farm, the distillery focuses its production on potato vodka, gin and cider.
Archie Rose Distilling Co. is an Australian distillery, founded in 2014, that produces spirits including whisky, gin, vodka and rum. It is one of the first independent distilleries in Sydney since 1853.
Arbikie distillery is a scotch whisky, vodka and gin distillery in Inverkeilor, Angus, Scotland.