Sacred Microdistillery

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Sacred Spirits Microdistillery
Type Private
Industry microdistillery & Distillation
Founded 2009
Founder(s) 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.

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, 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. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Gerrard, Neil (2010-02-05). "The Still Life". Caterer and Hotelkeeper. Archived from the original 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. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "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 on 2010-02-20. Retrieved 2010-02-20. 
  6. ↑ "Quality Will Out — and it did". The Spirits Business. 2009. Archived from the original 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. 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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