Sacred Microdistillery

Sacred Spirits Microdistillery
Private
Industry microdistillery & Distillation
Founded 2009
Founder Ian Hart and Hilary Whitney
Headquarters London
Area served
 Worldwide
Products Gin Vodka Exotic Distillates
Website www.sacredspiritscompany.com

Sacred Microdistillery is a microdistillery located in Highgate, London. It is unusual in that it distils 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 situated in a wendy-house in the distiller's back garden. It is an authorised Customs and Excise distillery.

History

Sacred Microdistillery was established in London in 2009; it is the only vacuum distillery in London.[1] Sipsmith Distillery in Hammersmith started at a similar time, but is an atmospheric pressure copper pot. Sacred Microdistillery was launched by Ian Hart[2] and Hilary Whitney initially as a pure Gin distillery, but this has now branched out into flavoured vodkas, such as Sacred Vodka, produced using the same process. Also now produced are Vermouths using English Wine and An English alternative to Campari - Rosehip Cup.

Sacred Microdistillery is based on a residential street in North London.[3] It distributes its products to over 50 bars and restaurants in North and Central London,[4] This includes Duke's Bar in St James's, where Ian Fleming invented the Vesper cocktail.[5] It is also stocked by Fortnum and Mason in Piccadilly, and Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons in Oxfordshire,[1] and Gerry's of Old Compton Street.

Sacred Gin came first in its category in the Ginmasters 2009 competition,[6] which is a blind tasting competition organised by The Spirits Business magazine. More recently, Sacred Gin placed in the top three[7] alongside Hendrick's and Tanqueray 10 gins in another blind tasting organised by Imbibe magazine.[8]

The distiller started on a small scale, and personally delivered stock to local bars and restaurants on London's tubes and buses[9] before acquiring an on-trade distributor, Coe Vintners.[4]

Products

Sacred Microdistillery's first two spirits are Sacred Vodka and Sacred Gin, both of which are produced in small batches of a few hundred bottles a time, from English Grain Spirit. Each batch is made with two or three fractions: the initial one is collected under glass coils cooled with iced water (about 0°C), the middle is collected under a cold finger cooled to -89°C with dry ice (solid CO2), and the final fraction is collected under liquid nitrogen under a cold finger at -196°C.[10] The separately distilled botanicals therefore produce 2-3 fractions each, which are blended as the final part of the process.[11]

Sacred Gin is 40% ABV. It uses 12 botanicals including: juniper, angelica root, fresh orange peel, fresh lemon peel and fresh lime peel, nutmeg, cardamom.[12] and Frankincense.

Sacred Vodka is 40% ABV. It is a wholly redistilled flavoured vodka using 7 botanicals including: cubeb, angelica root, nutmeg, and frankincense.

References

  1. 1 2 Gerrard, Neil (2010-02-05). "The Still Life". Caterer and Hotelkeeper. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-02-20. Retrieved 2010-02-20.
  2. ↑ "Life after the City: Ian Hart". eFinancialNews. 2010-01-11. Archived from the original on 2010-02-20. Retrieved 2010-02-20.
  3. ↑ "Urban foodie visits Sacred Microdistillery". Urban foodie. 2009-12-06. Archived from the original on 2010-02-20. Retrieved 2010-02-20.
  4. 1 2 "List of bars and restaurants serving Sacred Spirits". Sacred Spirits Company. Archived from the original on 2010-02-20. Retrieved 2010-02-20.
  5. ↑ "Small is Beautiful: Sacred Gin". Imbibe. November 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-02-20. Retrieved 2010-02-20.
  6. ↑ "Quality Will Out — and it did". The Spirits Business. 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-02-20. Retrieved 2010-02-20.
  7. ↑ Mason, Angela (2010-02-20). "Meet Zanzzi Barr Contessa Cocktail". The Mail on Sunday. Archived from the original on 2010-02-21. Retrieved 2010-02-21.
  8. ↑ "Imbibe Magazine ICE awards Jan/Feb 2010 blind tasting". Imbibe Magazine. January 2010. Archived from the original on 2010-02-20. Retrieved 2010-02-20.
  9. ↑ Culshaw, Jenny (2009-07-30). "New gin distilleries for London". BBC. Archived from the original on 2010-02-20. Retrieved 2010-02-20.
  10. ↑ "Making mother's ruin 2.0". Wired. November 2009. Archived from the original on 2010-02-20. Retrieved 2010-02-20.
  11. ↑ Purves, Nick (2010-01-09). "Sacred Gin". The London Word. Archived from the original on 2010-02-20. Retrieved 2010-02-20.
  12. ↑ Culshaw, Jenny. "BBC's Jenny Culshaw visits Sacred Gin Microdistillery for Working Lunch" (YouTube video). Working Lunch. BBC. Retrieved 2010-02-20.

External links

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