Production of Kent’s first grain-to-glass single malt whisky is finally underway at The Copper Rivet Distillery, Chatham Maritime.
The new grain to glass craft distillery, which distilled its first spirit and opened for tours in October last year, took delivery of seventy Bourbon barrels from the United States in February. They will officially start to barrel the first of their MASTHOUSE Whisky, and begin disgorging the first five barrels of their unique English grain spirit, SON OF A GUN from this week. These two new small batch craft spirits will compliment their current spirit range which includes DOCKYARD Gin and VELA Vodka.
Based inside the historic Pump House No. 5 at Chatham Maritime, the Copper Rivet Distillery is the only spirit maker in Kent, and one of just a few in the United Kingdom who own the process of brewing and distilling spirits from grain to glass on site, ensuring an exceptional range of totally distinctive and unique luxury spirits.
MASTHOUSE Whisky will be made following the strict traditions and regulations laid down for Scotch whisky, which requires the spirit to be brewed and distilled on the same site to qualify as a single malt. The whisky will exclusively feature Kentish spring barley grown especially for The Copper Rivet Distillery by farming partners Burden Bros locally in Kent.
Each batch of their Kent spring barley will be malted to head distiller Abhishek Banik’s specification, before being milled, mashed and fermented on site. The wash will then be distilled twice through the distillery’s whisky still called Sandy, before being matured in Bourbon oak casks to produce a multi-layered and well-balanced light and fruity whisky, with an underlying nutty richness, hints of spicy oak, cloves and vanilla bean, and hints of a fruity rose characteristics.
Further down the line, the team plan to create a single grain whisky, and further expressions of their single malt including an exceptional sherry cask finished whisky.
The distillery team have also rolled out production of SON OF A GUN, a delicious clear spirit with a sweet, vanilla whisky flavour. Handcrafted in small batches, SON OF A GUN is distilled from locally grown grains in The Copper Rivet Distillery’s whisky and column stills. It will be lightly barrel aged for flavour, before being charcoal filtered for purity. This unique, irreverent spirit, is deep and complex in flavour, with honey and raisin sweetness, along with malt and vanilla notes.
The spirit, whose bottle features an illustration of an unknown moustachioed sailor is inspired by the sailors that once served and sailed from Chatham’s Royal Dockyard – the location of Pump House No. 5, which now serves as the home and base of The Copper Rivet Distillery.
The first batch of SON OF A GUN is expected to be on sale in late April 2017. MASTHOUSE Whisky is anticipated for initial release in 2020.
Stephen Russell comments: “This is an exciting new chapter in The Copper Rivet Distillery’s story. It’s rewarding to see our vision for a range of high quality, end to end spirits not only become a reality, but one that consumers and trade customers alike both understand, and are embracing.
We’ve received a phenomenal response to our gin and vodka, with demand for our small batch premium spirits at such a high pitch, we’re selling out of stock as soon as it hits the shelves.
With our Head Distiller, Abhi Banik at the helm, we believe SON OF A GUN and MASTHOUSE Whisky will rival even the best Scottish Malts, and perfectly complement DOCKYARD Gin and VELA Vodka to complete our luxury spirit line up.”
To find out more about the Copper Rivet Distillery and their product range, visit www.copperrivetdistillery.com, or follow us at facebook.com/copperrivetdistillery, twitter @rivetdistillery
