Review:

Adnams Copper House Distilled Gin

Adnams PLC, Copper House Distillery, Southwold, Suffolk, East Anglia, England, UK.

Adnams Copper House Distillery.

Adnams is best known as a brewery (of very fine beer) and has been established since 1872. This was when two brothers George and Ernest Adnams bought the Sole Bay Brewery in Southwold, Suffolk. In 2006 Jonathan Adnams became Chairman, a fourth generation member of the family. Their business ethics are to be strongly admired and followed; establishing a charity for the local community and building a green policy (in action) to challenge even the most passionate eco-warrior.

Today the business, whilst still clearly dedicated to beer (producing 10’s of millions pints of beer per year), has branched out to owning (over 70) pubs and (5) hotels, plus a range of cellar and kitchen (over 10) retail stores. In late 2010 they opened their own distillery and started producing their own range of spirits.

Produced in small batches from local East Anglian pale ale barley malt cereal grain, they make their base spirit from a version of unhopped beer wash, using brewing yeast to ferment it. This wash is distilled three times in German-made Carl column stills (creating their Barley Vodka) before being ready to carry out the final Gin production stage. The botanicals are left to steep in this Vodka grade spirit overnight before being redistilled a fourth time in a copper pot still, taking about 6 hours.

The Gin is presented in a clear squat round bottle with a navy blue colored label and “Copper House Distillery” written in copper plate.

Distilled Dry Gin.

40% (80 Proof).

$$$ - $$$$. Not available for sale in the USA and unlikely to ever be so, as the company highly values green issues, which negates transporting to far away places. However it can be purchased from Master of Malt in the UK, just be prepared to pay around 80% extra for shipping. 

6 botanicals used are: cardamom pod, coriander seed, hibiscus flower, juniper berries, (sweet) orange peel and orris root.

Adnams come from the founding family name. The copper house was the old part of the brewery, which held all the copper piping and has now been converted into the distillery.

On the nose is pine (juniper) and citrus (orange) with floral (hibiscus) notes and perhaps a hint of barley! On the palate this smooth dry spirit has juniper and slightly sweet citrus (lemon and orange) with light spice (coriander and cardamom) and herbs. The close has soft juniper, lightly warm spicy pepper and floral (hibiscus) notes to finish.

This is a fragrant and aromatic style Gin with a soft juniper kick, compared to Adnams First Rate Gin which has less floral and more juniper and spice to it. In a Gin & Tonic the herbal burst is delightfully loud and fresh with a light spice and floral undercurrent (hibiscus) continuous in the background - Adnams recommend serving your G&T with muddled lime. In a Martini the juniper and herbs are at the forefront and this makes for a simple and pleasant drink. This Gin holds it own, is versatile and comes through in other Gin based mixed drinks well (e.g. Gimlet, Negroni, Tom Collins etc.).

Silver Medal, International Wine & Spirits Competition, 2012.