How far will the house spirits trend go?

From a liquor made from ants to a Jane Austen gin, an increasing number of bars are turning their hand to creating custom-made spirits, but how far will the trend go?

Will Lowe, of the Cambridge Distillery, is one of many distillers producing spirits specifically for bars

As bars struggle to stand out in a fiercely competitive field and consumers become evermore discerning about what they drink, owners are looking for alternative ways to capture customer curiosity.

Both the on- and off-trade’s shelves are fit to burst with a myriad of spirit flavours, so it comes as no great surprise then that bars are finding the notion of creating something bespoke an attractive prospect.

For Will Lowe, master distiller of The Cambridge Distillery, this is a trend he has seen evolve since founding The Cambridge Distillery in the UK two years ago. As the “world’s first gin tailor”, Lowe’s services have been sought to create all manners of unusual flavours. None more so perhaps than a gin made using wood ants for The Nordic Food Lab in Denmark. Anty Gin, as it is called, is now served at Copenhagen’s Michelin-starred restaurant, and best in the world, Noma.

Bespoke business

“The challenge was can we make a gin without any citrus at all but get that citrus character from ants instead?” explains Lowe. “And we did.” As master distiller, Lowe’s role involves taking the flavour profiles requested by his clients and guiding them through tastings to determine which botanicals complement each other the best.

In its first year of opening, the distillery made 86 different recipes. By the end of its second that number had grown to 512, and there is currently a three-month waiting list.

“We didn’t know if there would be a demand but clearly there is,” Lowe says.

When questioned about whether or not tailored spirits were an expensive venture, there was no hesitation from Lowe in admitting there is. “We are not the Tesco of gin; we’re not stocking anything high and selling it cheap,” he explains. “We make things the best way. What we are interested in is fine levels of craftsmanship.

“There’s a whole library of 70 distillates. We distil each botanical individually. Each has its own maceration period with different temperature and different pressure. The logistics of it all are very challenging.”

Bath Gin, featuring an image of a winking Jane Austen, has been created exclusively for The Canary Gin Bar

‘Elevated price’

According to Joe Tivey, bar manager at Michelin-starred restaurant Alimentum – which has also produced a bespoke gin distilled with Lady Grey tea and truffles with The Cambridge Distillery – the “elevated price” is a small cost to pay to set your venue apart from the rest.

“The pros far outweigh the cons,” he says. “I think customers are willing to spend that little bit extra for something that’s tailored.

“It is expensive but it creates a fantastic talking point and is great for brand identity.” Certainly, for The Canary Gin Bar in Bath, UK, launching Bath Gin in March has been a huge boost for business, with owner Peter Meacock reporting a 20% increase in turnover since its release.

Sell out success

Distilled at London’s Thames Distillery, Bath Gin was created by Meacock and mixologist Tim Wehelan and has already sold out of its first batch of 1,000 bottles, with 2,000 more already ordered. “It is definitely attracting more people to the bar,” Meacock says. “The link between the bar and the gin is obviously very strong and very specific. Nowadays, people are quite critical about sourcing authenticity in products.”

Meacock not only puts its success down to the “wonderful flavours” of Bath Gin, but also to the packaging, which features a winking image of literary legend Jane Austen. Inspired by packaging designs of US craft distillery St George Spirits, which Meacock describes as “absolutely pukka”, Meacock testifies the standout image has played a vital role in the gin’s burgeoning success. “We spent a lot of time on the packaging,” he says. “For me, creating a beautifully-designed bottle was just as important as creating a beautifully- designed gin,” he says.

So positive has the response to Bath Gin been that Meacock is buying a building in Bath to turn into his very own distillery.

A creation between bartender and distiller, Triumvirate is available at tiki bar Smuggler’s Cove

Not a trend for all

However, not every distillery is as eager to dedicate themselves to creating one-offs, as Lance Winters, proprietor and master distiller of St George Spirits, explains: “It’s actually something we tend to shy away from,” he admits. “The amount of work per bottle is out of ratio. We really only do that for people we have long-term relationships with. Distillation is an act of self-expression and making a product for someone else tends to not be my own, but someone else’s.” Yet, despite his reluctance to take on new projects, when asked if the projects he has chosen to adopt were worth it – such as creating an agricole rum for San Francisco tiki bar Smuggler’s Cove – Winters replies “absolutely”.

“For me, we will have products that are bespoke to who we are as distillers. We do what we do because we love the process of creation and once in a while it’s fun to do something that’s a one-off experiment.”

Bartender joins distiller

With a back bar boasting more than 500 rums, Smuggler’s Cove owner Martin Cate has martyred himself to the cause of “celebrating the whole history of rum”. Together, Cate and Winters produced 125 bottles of a bespoke agricole rum called Eurydice, which has since sold out.

The popularity spurred Cate on to create his next rum venture, which involved three of his customers who have each tasted 200 of the bar’s rums. Together, they created Triumvirate and Triumvirate Final Edition – two aged expressions of a rum custom made by House Spirits in Portland, before Cate continued to make Plantation Royal Blend – a custom blend of aged rums from Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbados and Guyana.

Despite facing innumerable legal hurdles, not least strict laws on labelling in the US, and the high costs that come with creating rum, Cate is determined to continue creating new expressions.

“It’s about making an effort to produce something to differentiate your space and ensure your drinks will have a unique flavour to them that’s not duplicated anywhere else,” he declares.

“People have developed a massive interest in finding out about the craft process, and I think, else I am sure, that the market for bespoke spirits will certainly expand.”