The Dapper Chapper Bar – Williams Chase Single Estate Gin

The Williams Chase Distillery has slowly but surely been developing itself a reputation as one of the leading distilleries in the UK, that can be relied upon for its quality and British-ness.

Chase Distillery started life making vodka – specifically potato based vodka. It is the only Gin in the UK that is made from a distillery’s own neutral spirit. Most distilleries buy in neutral spirit from elsewhere and then distil it with their chosen botanicals to create Gin.

Not Williams Chase – they produce their own neutral spirit, by pressing and fermenting their very own cider apples and potatoes. This in itself differs from most Gins, not only because it is produced on their own distillery, but also because most gins are made using a grain based neutral spirit, not an apple and potato based one.

Once they have produced their unique cider based neutral spirit it is then re-distilled with their combo of ten botanicals – coriander, juniper, liquorice, angelica, orrice, orange, lemon, hops, elderflower and bramley apple.

This isn’t infused in any traditional way though – the botanicals are stuffed into a pillowcase and placed into the carter head of their still. The flavours from the botanicals are then infused into the vapours as they pass through.

This flavoured spirit is then infused with local spring water, from a source on the distillery itself, to bring it down to a 48% ABV – so it’s on the strong side.

With such a bold set of botanicals in this gin, you’d expect there to be an incredibly strong flavour. In fact, before trying this gin I was concerned about how they could balance the strong flavours that are in the botanicals.

However, turns out I should have had no worries whatsoever. Clearly, the process through which they infuse the flavours into the neutral spirit, in a pillow case, allowing the flavours to infuse leads to a subtle blend of flavours that all work together very well.

There is no doubt that you can really pick out the liquorice on the palate and you can tell that this is based on an apple spirit at its inception, but neither of these flavours are overpowering or domineering. There is a lingering spice after swallowing which provides some depth to the drink, while hints of juniper are also evident.

Overall we’re big fans of this gin. We love the fact that all the ingredients are produced on their very own Chase farm grounds, as well as the subtle blend of ingredients that they’ve managed to combine.

As with most gins, it would be rude not to try sample this in some form of tonic based cocktail, so we plumped for the “Wet the Royal Babies Head” – I swear we didn’t make that name up.

Wet the Royal Babies Head

Ingredients

50ml Williams Elegant Gin

• 200ml Fever Tree Tonic
• 1 Earl Grey Tea Bag
• Apple slice

Directions

• Combine the Williams Chase gin and Fever Tree tonic water.
• Garnish with an apple slice and an earl grey tea bag.

Enjoy!

Williams Chase Elegant Gin is available from our friends over at 31dover.com for a price of £37.50.