This is also my third in an occasional series about newer distilleries, this entry is about the Cooper King Distillery.
Abbie and Chris from Cooper King came over from Yorkshire to tell us all about the new distillery they are building! Obviously they didn't have anything for us to sample so Tomatin stood in with a bottle of their delicious Cask Strength!
Location
Cooper King Distillery is located in Sutton-on-the-Forest near York in North Yorkshire.
The distillery is being self-build on the site of an old stable block. When complete the distillery will house a production area and cask maturation warehouse, together with a rustic tasting room and well-stocked shop.
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| Photo : CooperKing |
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| Photo : CooperKing |
In 2014, a desire to leave the rat race Abbie and Chris crossed the globe to Australia, in search of sun, sand and adventure.
While living and working in Tasmania, a nearby distillery won World’s Best Single Malt Whisky, a feat never accomplished outside of Scotland or Japan. They began researching for a whisky blog for friends back home and visited a number of operational whisky distilleries. They had an incredible three months leading a bizarre double life. One day apple picking, sleeping in the boot of an estate car, eating cup-a-soup for dinner and living the true back-packer lifestyle. The next, staying in nice hotels, learning about all things whisky and meeting up with distillery owners and head distillers.
Eventually they were inspired to come home and build their own distillery! They took advice from Bill Lark, the godfather of Tasmanian whisky, and others they met on their travels.
The distillery name Cooper King comes from Chris’ great-great-grandfather Charles Cooper King, a Lieutenant Colonel of the Royal Marine Artillery. They thought his adventurous spirit fitted the business perfectly. But there was a problem – they had to seek permission from the Cabinet Office to use the word ‘King’ in their company name!
Production Process
Cooper King have sourced their the custom-made 900 litre copper pot still from Tasmania and plan to use 100% Yorkshire barley combined with pure Yorkshire water in a 5-6 day fermentation period to produce a "distinctive malt spirit unlike any other in the UK".
The whisky will be matured, on site, in small 100 litre casks from "England's last Master Cooper" Alastair Simms of White Rose Cooperage locally in North Yorkshire.
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| Photo: YorkMix |
They plan to distil their first spirit around Christmas 2017 producing around 3,500 bottles per year. Interestingly as they aren't in Scotland they are not bound by Scottish Oak maturation rules - they'll be able experiment with other woods!
Cooper King Distillery is striving to be a green distillery running on 100% green energy, they will also plant a tree for every membership sold to offset carbon emissions. There are a four levels of membership through their Founder's Club offering a number of rewards to investors!
It was great to meet Abbie and Chris at the #GBMM2017 at The House of Malt and I'm really looking forward to visiting their distillery and trying their whisky when it has becomes available!
Website
Link to the distillery website
Visit
Not open yet but planning to being the new year!
Contact
email : info@cooperkingdistillery.co.uk
phone : +44 (0)1347 808232
Now obviously they didn't have any whisky for us to try, so a slightly older distillery stepped in to help! Tomatin donated a bottle of their cask Strength for us to enjoy whilst we listened to Abbie and Chris' presentation.
Characteristics : 57.5% ABV, NCF, Non-coloured
Price : £50 widely available
Colour : Dark Gold
Nose : Honey and red fruit - strawberries and raspberries, the strength comes through in the nose and there is a background of sherry.
Palate : Mouth filling, oily, more honey and fruit. Quite spicy - a hint of ginger?
Finish : Drying and very spicy.
Overall : A wonderful sipping dram, would be great in front of a roaring fire but all I had was a gang of bloggers! I think we all enjoyed this one!
Link : Cask Strength
Back to the #GBMM2017 introduction!
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