Review:

Adnams Copper House
Sloe 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.

Production is initially the same as their Copper House Distilled Gin: small batches from local East Anglian pale ale barley malt cereal grain, is used to make 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 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. Frozen sloeberries, sugar and flaked almonds are added to the finished Gin and left to mature for two months.

The Gin is presented in a clear round 50cl bottle to show off the ruby red/orange color of the spirit. It has a navy blue colored label and “Copper House Distillery” written in copper plate, with a smaller white colored label below this showing red lettering.

Flavored Gin - Sloe.

26% (52 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 50cl bottles can be purchased from Master of Malt in the UK, just be prepared to pay around 70% extra for shipping.

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

Adnams come from the founding family name, the copper house was the old part of the brewery, and the third part of the name refers to the key flavored ingredient.

On the nose is plum and red fruit aroma. On the palate this moderately sweet spirit has a tangy plum (sloe) like taste with a little dry tart bitterness (sloe) in the background and a hint of marzipan (almond). It is creamy, fruity, rounded and finishes smooth with warm peppery Gin notes. Some sediment may be in the bottle.

Nice to drink by itself as a winter warmer it also makes a fine Sloe Gin Fizz for a refreshing summertime experience.

Silver Medal, International Wine & Spirits Competition, 2012.