A creamy texture with gossamer aromas and flavours of caramel, vanilla and cream soda, in combination with silky smoothness and a gentle finish. Nothing ‘thin’ about this.

​The finesse is evident in the mouthfeel and delicacy of the spirit, which provide a great drinking experience: a difference to the flavour ‘punch’ of dark spirits such as rums and malts. Delicate but still full of flavour, super smooth and light on the palate. We do not do fire and harshness and that is what sets us apart from many.

We ferment our beet sugar into a low alcohol solution, which is then distilled in one of our reflux column stills to 96% ABV, and then cut back with water to our chosen strength, 42% ABV. We only distil once, and we don’t filter the spirit. To achieve this, John designed and built his own reflux columns to our exact specifications. But why is single distilling and unfiltering so important? And why go to all the bother? Here’s some more background on vodka production to help with the answer.

​To call something vodka, it has to reach 96% ABV during distillation, before you cut it back down with water to your desired strength. If the spirit doesn’t get up to 96% then it’s known as moonshine.

​The fermented product (wash or mash) might be distilled and then its product distilled again to make a low spirit with increased alcohol, but not enough to call it vodka, necessitating it be distilled a final third time to meet the target 96% or more. The problem with this route is what lurks in the other 4%. This can often be levels of heads and tails at concentrated levels, such that they impose fire and bitterness on the product and also some off-notes on the nose.

​Next the product is diluted with water to a point where filtering through carbon (charcoal) works and thus helps to strip out some of the undesirables. The interesting thing with charcoal filtering is that it is generally non-specific, so it can pull out lots of different things and it can also catalyse certain reactions that actually add to the undesirable load. But that is another story. Suffice to say, triple-distilling and then filtering through something to polish up the spirit is commonplace.

 Single distillation is a significant challenge, both in terms of the style of distilling, the energy that is required, the time it takes and the yield. In short, it's expensive, it's not quick, you don’t get much, but what you do produce is lovely: vodka with delightful flavour. Our very small batch size of 200 litres also allows us to make the exact cut to the spirit we want, which ensures the spirit is smooth and without harshness.

East Anglian sugar beet, refined locally for us by British Sugar in Bury St Edmunds. East Anglia has historically been the centre of UK sugar beet production, and British Sugar supplies around 50% of the UK's demand for sugar.

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We like to use sugar beet for two reasons. One is that anyone who has driven around the back roads of East Anglia will know that there is absolutely tons of the stuff local to our distillery. The other reason is the properties that it lends to the spirit: creaminess in texture and flavour.

Best enjoyed neat; with your favourite mixer; or as a base for a sublime espresso martini.,