Capreolus marks 10th anniversary with elderberry eau-de-vie
The Cotswolds-based producer of gin and fruit eaux-de-vie has marked 10 years of distilling with a limited run of just 84 bottles of elderberry spirit.
Capreolus founder and distiller Barney Wilczak told The Spirits Business: “To celebrate our 10th anniversary, it had to be something truly extraordinary, the most complex eau-de-vie we have ever released.”
Capreolus Elderberry 2024 was derived from 2,000kg of fruit sourced within 30 miles of the distillery. After being hand-sorted and fermented for more than five weeks, the resulting elderberry wine was distilled three times, yielding just 16 litres of spirit. Diluted to a bottling strength of 43% ABV, Wilczak says each litre of his anniversary eau-de-vie represents 62kg of elderberries.
Tasting notes mention heather honey, sandalwood, elderflower, cocoa and woodland aromas, before a palate of beeswax, almond, lemon zest, green wood and rowanberry.
“To reach our 10th year at Capreolus seems to be unbelievable,” he added. “The truth was I never expected anybody to buy English eaux-de-vie; the gin was meant to finance us.
“My first days were with homemade equipment, sieving plums through a soil sieve and crushing apples through a homemade mill. Those early days feel distant and familiar at the same time. Our hands are still on every single piece of fruit; our attention ever more vigilant.
“As a rural producer, we still maintain a degree of isolation; our work disappears into the ether and we rarely see it. And yet, in the distance, we know that our work graces the tables of the world’s best restaurants and bars.”
Restaurants including Raymond Blanc’s Le Manoir in Oxfordshire and Core by Clare Smyth in Notting Hill currently list Capreolus eaux-de-vie. The distillery’s raspberry eau-de-vie features in a cocktail on the latest menu at Lyaness on London’s South Bank.
“Their investment in our small family celebrates and facilitates this obsessive dive into the sheer complexity and diversity of plants, which is so far beyond our comprehension,” added Wilczak.
Capreolus’ 10th anniversary elderberry eau-de-vie is available from the distillery’s website, priced at £300 (US$400) for 375ml.
In addition to producing fruit spirits and gin, the distillery collaborated with English wine producer Chapel Down in 2022 to produce an aperitif called Aker, which combined rosé wines from Kent and Capreolus Raspberry Eau-de-Vie.
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