They distil Gin, Rum and Corn Whisky, I first tried their Corn Whisky in a BlindTasting and we were all very impressed!
The Forgan Distillery is located in Banks near Southport in north west England.
History
After experimenting with small scale stills from 2013 onwards, first a half litre, then a 20 litre and finally getting a licence from HMRC and in August 2017 Forgan Distillery began its journey. Phil Robbins had one goal in mind : to create high quality, locally sourced spirits that would change the face of modern alcohol.
Forgan is a family name, dating back all the way to 1625 to William Forgan, born in Fifeshire, Scotland, William Forgan was the founder of the hamlet of Forgan, near St Andrews, and Phil is proud to be a direct descendant. It has been family tradition that every generation has one boy with the middle name Forgan, which Phil holds proudly.
Phil spent a year applying for a full distiller’s license instead of the easier to obtain rectification license, this allows him to create alcohol from scratch instead of buying it in like many other gin producers do. This gives absolute control over the quality and integrity of the products and really emphasising the importance of handcrafted, high quality produce. Forgan Distillery prides itself on honesty and transparency, and the process of learning, experimenting and often ruling ingredients out is one, he now produces Gin, Vodka, Rum and Corn Whiskey, all in small batches.
Production
Initial production started with two 50 litre reflux stills (named Michelle and Lisa after Phil's wife and her twin sister) but as popularity grew and more spirit was required an investment was made in a custom 300 litre 5 stage reflux still from China. This one is called Elena after his niece!
Whisky
Phil distils his Corn Whiskey from locally grown Lancashire corn, he can see the field it grows in from the distillery. It's fermented in Scottish Highland mineral water with sugar and yeast.
The recipe has given to him by a friend who is a horse ranch owner in West Virginia near the Appalachian Mountains. It's a bourbon style whiskey made with 98% corn fermented for 3 - 4 weeks before being cleared and then distilled to create a 93% ABV spirit which is watered down to the required strength with the highland mineral water before being barreled in self-charred 28 litre American white oak casks although he has experiment with virgin 200 year old English oak!
Like most Corn Whiskey aging is usually brief – six months or less – during which time the whiskey absorbs colour and flavour from the charred cask.
All the colour and flavour comes from the wood - typically vanilla and caramel notes from the oak and some sweetness from the corn - there are no flavourings or colours added. Strength is around 50% ABV, it does vary by batch. All bottles are numbered, typically a batch is around 28 bottles.
I've tried 4 different batches of the corn whisky and been impressed with them all - the first was a part of one of our #BlindTasting session a last year - generally known as the Original Lost Batch as some freak weather conditions caused the cask it was maturing in to leak.
So impressed was I with this dram that I bought a bottle of Batch 01 (57%) which didn't last very long!
My tasting notes:
Website
Link to the distillery website
Contact
Email: hello@forgandistillery.com
Many thanks to Phil at the distillery for the sample of Batch 6.
Forgan is a family name, dating back all the way to 1625 to William Forgan, born in Fifeshire, Scotland, William Forgan was the founder of the hamlet of Forgan, near St Andrews, and Phil is proud to be a direct descendant. It has been family tradition that every generation has one boy with the middle name Forgan, which Phil holds proudly.
Phil spent a year applying for a full distiller’s license instead of the easier to obtain rectification license, this allows him to create alcohol from scratch instead of buying it in like many other gin producers do. This gives absolute control over the quality and integrity of the products and really emphasising the importance of handcrafted, high quality produce. Forgan Distillery prides itself on honesty and transparency, and the process of learning, experimenting and often ruling ingredients out is one, he now produces Gin, Vodka, Rum and Corn Whiskey, all in small batches.
Production
Initial production started with two 50 litre reflux stills (named Michelle and Lisa after Phil's wife and her twin sister) but as popularity grew and more spirit was required an investment was made in a custom 300 litre 5 stage reflux still from China. This one is called Elena after his niece!
Whisky
Phil distils his Corn Whiskey from locally grown Lancashire corn, he can see the field it grows in from the distillery. It's fermented in Scottish Highland mineral water with sugar and yeast.
The recipe has given to him by a friend who is a horse ranch owner in West Virginia near the Appalachian Mountains. It's a bourbon style whiskey made with 98% corn fermented for 3 - 4 weeks before being cleared and then distilled to create a 93% ABV spirit which is watered down to the required strength with the highland mineral water before being barreled in self-charred 28 litre American white oak casks although he has experiment with virgin 200 year old English oak!
Like most Corn Whiskey aging is usually brief – six months or less – during which time the whiskey absorbs colour and flavour from the charred cask.
All the colour and flavour comes from the wood - typically vanilla and caramel notes from the oak and some sweetness from the corn - there are no flavourings or colours added. Strength is around 50% ABV, it does vary by batch. All bottles are numbered, typically a batch is around 28 bottles.
I've tried 4 different batches of the corn whisky and been impressed with them all - the first was a part of one of our #BlindTasting session a last year - generally known as the Original Lost Batch as some freak weather conditions caused the cask it was maturing in to leak.
So impressed was I with this dram that I bought a bottle of Batch 01 (57%) which didn't last very long!
My tasting notes:
| Dram | Corn Whiskey Batch 01 | Corn Whiskey Batch 02 | Corn Whiskey Batch 06 |
| Characteristics | 57% ABV, Natural colour, NCF. (28 bottles) | 50.5% ABV, Natural colour, NCF. (32 bottles) | 43% ABV, Natural colour, NCF. (20 bottles) |
| Distillery info | Delicious notes of vanilla and caramel with oak, which comes from the wood, and a varying level of subtle sweetness, which comes from the corn. | ||
| My thoughts: | |||
| Appearance |  | ||
| A lovely dark gold in the glass, swirls give thick slow legs. | A lovely dark gold in the glass, swirls leave a thin line which eventually fall as slow thick legs. | A lovely mid gold in the glass, slightly lighter than the previous two. Swirls leave a thin line which eventually fall as slow thin legs. | |
| Nose | Oak is the initial note as the ABV attacks the nose. Vanilla and toffee notes follow as the air mixes with the liquid. | Again a strong oak note initially, then the vanilla and popcorn toffee notes appear. | This one is much sweeter on the nose, the oak is still there but there's a honeyed fruit note too - pears and apples. |
| Palate | Thick slightly sour arrival, loads of oak notes from the nose but with a big bite of spice too. Toffee notes with a little hint of fruit. | Another thick arrival, lacking the sour note initially, the oak and toffee dominate. A little time on the tongue reveals a spicy sour note. There's a little apple here too - almost toffee apple. Slightly drying. | Thinner, slightly watery, arrival on this one - a much lower ABV, toffee apple notes dominate but it's not sickly sweet. There is more fruit showing through on this one. Very drying, the oak and vanilla notes coming along with a few more sips. |
| Finish | A lovely balance of sweet toffee and sour grapefruit. | The sour note dominates on the finish with a drying oaky note. | A sweet almost honey note with oak and a little smoke. |
| Overall | As I've said I've tried 4 different batches of the Corn Whiskey, all slightly different but all hugely enjoyable. Corn is an unusually cereal to distil from - I don't think I've tried any other corn whiskies on my journey so far although there was that dodgy Balcones Brimstone..... These all share similar vanilla, oak and sour notes, but the lower ABVs tend to be sweeter. As you can see from the notes above these are all small batches, and all sell out very quickly after appearing on the website, I'd recommend keeping a look out and grabbing one if you can! | ||
Website
Link to the distillery website
Contact
Email: hello@forgandistillery.com
Many thanks to Phil at the distillery for the sample of Batch 6.
No comments:
Post a Comment