After Covid delays, English Spirit Distillery has announced what will soon be the opening of its “cutting-edge distillery” at Treguddick Manor, Cornwall.
Opening later this summer, the state of the art distillery will be the new home to the pioneering artisan distillers English Spirit. Over the past three years, their team has been working hard converting a disused agricultural building into an architecturally designed space, filled with innovative equipment, to produce truly exceptional spirits.
At the heart of the distillery will sit a custom 2,500 litre copper still, engineered by Dr John Walters, Master Distiller and business founder. Utilising his knowledge of biochemistry and distillation, he developed the design from the original 200 litre alembic stills he engineered for Great Yeldham Hall. The new still has been engineered to make the finest alcohol, ensuring ultimate control to harness the heart of the spirit, the team expecting to turn out 50,000 bottles by the end of 2021.
The English Spirit team can’t wait to start producing their range of discerning spirits in the ground of the historic Treguddick Manor, near Launceston. The distillery is sat in the heart of the rolling Cornish countryside, yet less than a minute drive from the A30. In a normal year, this route sees more than 15 million visitors pass into North Cornwall, which the English Spirit team hopes to make some of them stop and enjoy the local area, which is often said to receive less attention than West Cornwall.
“I fell in love with the Manor as soon as I saw it. It ticked all the boxes. We wanted to open another site to further our place in England’s high-quality food and drink industry and to show off what we do best, via educational tours, tastings and even cooking with spirits. And continue our theme of English heritage,” said Dr. John Walters, Master Distiller and owner of English Spirit.
When the distillery officially opens to the public, later this summer, the English Spirit team will be thrilled to invite guests on tour and tasting experiences, allowing them to learn about the intricacies of the distillation process; from fermenting sugar cane molasses, the base ingredient used in rum, to how English Spirit produce all their spirits from scratch, one of the few distilleries to do so.
Guests will be able to experience the distilling and bottling process first-hand, from viewing the customer copper pot still in action, to wandering around the geodesic domes which house our growing botanicals; this will be a sensory experience like no other, said English Spirit in a press release. Followed by a guided tasting, allowing guests to sample the varied range of spirits on offer.
“We’re extremely excited to open up this one-of-a-kind distillery and visitor experience, which will combine our distilling expertise with produce from one of the UK’s top food & drink producing regions to produce truly spectacular results. We hope to make a fine addition to the thriving Cornish food & drink scene: we can’t wait,” said James Lawrence, general manager at Treguddick.
The distillery will also house a pioneering new restaurant and bar, with the team bringing their sense of adventure to the table, aiming to surprise and delight guests with a menu showcasing the very best of what the South West has to offer.
Since launching in 2011, English Spirit’s approach to distilling has always been daringly independent, pushing boundaries and challenging what they said couldn’t be done. English Spirit were the first to commercially distill rum in the UK, with the release of ‘Old Salt Rum’ as well as the first British distillery to produce Sambuca and Baijiu; it’s in their spirit to boldly go where no one has gone before.
