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Copper Rivet receives patent for Banik Still
England’s Copper Rivet Distillery has been awarded a patent for its Banik Still, which was developed to enhance maceration and vapour infusion.
Copper Rivet’s Banik Still (far right)
Developed by and named in honour of Copper Rivet head distiller Abhi Banik, the still was created to address the “limitations of traditional distillation”.
Banik said: “It was when I was studying distilling, nearly 10 years ago, that I began to wonder why no one had tried to change or improve distillation processes for hundreds of years. I was sure there should be improvements that could be made, so I started investigating.
“It took me seven years to design the still, a concept all in theory and CAD (computer-aided design) drawings, and with no experimental proof that it would work. When the Russell family [Copper Rivet founders] and I were designing a still for Dockyard Gin, I showed the team my concept and they believed in it enough to give it a try.”
Copper Rivet’s Banik Still has a vapour infusion basket and a maceration chamber, which allows botanicals to be treated to the type of infusion that would suit each of them best.
The maceration distillation is performed away from the heat source, at a lower temperature than traditional distillation, which extracts botanical flavours away from direct heat.
The Banik Still is said to offer distillers more control over extraction of flavours as well as a greater flavour extraction efficiency. It also allows increased charge alcohol recovery over traditional distillation techniques, 80%-85% of total charge compared to 60%-75%.
Matthew Russell, co-founder of the grain-to-glass distillery, said: “We discussed it together and agreed that our aim was to make Dockyard Gin the very best spirit we could and that we would leave no stone unturned in our pursuit of making an excellent spirit.
“It’s part of our vision to create a centre of excellence here at Copper Rivet Distillery, where Dockyard Gin is made, and to put Chatham on the global distilling map. So Chatham, Kent is the birthplace of the Banik Still – which you need to make a truly excellent gin.”