What did you do before establishing your distillery? My love of maps began as a young Scout, learning how to navigate on a night hike around my hometown of Cromer in Norfolk. I was immediately captivated, but it wasn’t for another ten years before I could realise my dream and become a cartographer, making maps for the military. I stayed working in cartography and GIS (Geographical Information Systems) for around ten years, taking some time out in between to travel around Russia, study conservation management and to dabble at commercial cider making. Redundancies eventually led to a move into more general IT Service Management where I remained until 2012 when I completed the transition into full-time commercial cider-making in Milton Keynes alongside the Grand Union Canal. What made you decide to open a distillery? There was never a plan to make gin. The logical next step from cider-making was distilling apple brandy. Initially working with a fledgling distillery, we played around with processes and equipment before obtaining our own distilling licence in 2014, with our alembic stills soon followed from Portugal. Our gin journey didn’t begin until 2017 when a forced relocation away from our canal-side home led to the decision to stop making cider and to focus on distilling. At this time we had whisky laid down (one of the first distilleries in England to do so), and we had partnered with a local vineyard to make brandy. Safine Drenc (Anglos Saxon for Juniper drink) was our first gin and was influenced by botanicals growing locally as well as from my spiritual home of North Norfolk. Our subsequent gins take inspiration from the botanicals that grow in specific areas around the distillery and our current home in Northamptonshire.
What is the meaning and story behind the Wharf Distillery name? Our distilling journey began when we were located on Galleon Wharf alongside the Grand Union Canal in Old Wolverton, Milton Keynes. Ironically it was only when we relocated into Northamptonshire, and focused on distilling, that we decided to use the word Wharf in our name. Wharfs are places full of life: where things are always happening; where there is always an eclectic mix of characters meeting to trade, to begin and end their journeys. The Wharf name just resonated strongly with me personally and is just a great name for a distillery Can you tell us more about your distillery and your stills? We currently operate 2 stills: a 300L copper alembic from Portugal and a 240L Kothe hybrid still from Germany. We opted for smaller stills to really optimise the contact that the spirit has with the copper whilst getting reasonable size batches. The alembic is a great still and was our first. We got her because she provided great flexibility and affordability when we started out. She is getting on a bit now so, since getting the Kothe, has been put on lighter duties and is only used to distil low alcohol washes for our whiskey and other spirits produced from base materials. Being direct-fired by gas flame she takes a long time to get up to the boil and a typical full run could be anywhere between 10-14 hours. When we bought our current premises in Towcester we took the opportunity to sell our second alembic and purchase a jacketed Kothe hybrid still. The main driver was to move away from gas to cleaner electric and take advantage of the faster boil time that the Kothe offered, allowing the potential to do two runs per day as production demanded. It is also a very versatile still with column, vapour baskets and a very efficient self-cleaning system .
Can you tell us more about your distillation process and botanicals? We use a traditional process for distilling our own gin, all of which is single shot. We also don’t run the still at full speed, preferring to give a greater dwell time to optimise the contact the liquid has with the copper. We like to have fun with our botanical selection and are heavily influenced by what grows locally. I would describe our gins as concept gins. That is to say their taste reflects the location after which they are named: so earthy and piney for our forest gin (Old Silson), and floral and citrusy for our watermeadow gin (Lactodorum). As a contract distiller (since 2015) we have worked with many clients and many more obscure botanicals: from perique and hojicha through salt bus, nori seaweed and Chinese hawthorn. Although not gin, we have also produced some amazing spirits using some of the world’s most expensive teas, with leaves harvested from 500 year old trees. What can visitors experience if they visit the distillery for a tour and tasting? Visitors to our distillery won’t get a potted tour, they will get a tour from me, the founder, tailored to their own particular spirit of choice. The tour usually starts with the guest’s drink of choice whilst listening to a brief history of Wharf followed by an introduction to our range, then into the distilling room to meet the stills. Describing the processes will be as detailed as the group demands and the tour will end on our shop to try any number of our range.
What is your ambition for your distillery in the years to come?
Our ambition for the distillery is to uphold, and promote more widely, our reputation for producing spirits of the highest quality, provenance and integrity. We are part of the Actually Made In movement which is about promoting distilleries that make all their own products and who are transparent about what they do and how they do it. I don’t have anything against brands that use contract distillers but there is something special about being able to say, “This Gin is made right here, by us. Come and see.” Steady, sustainable growth is important to our business, but not the be all and end all. First and foremost we need to ensure that our products are never compromised, but each year we are slowly extending the national, and global reach, or our products. This year (2025) for example, we are in talks with distilleries in Hong Kong and Australia with a view to licensing them to make one of our gins. All very exciting! What's next for you and Wharf Distillery - any exciting plans? I know I have been saying this for a while but this year (2025) we are definitely refreshing our New Town brand and introducing some new flavoured gins. New Town is our range of more contemporary flavoured gins, rums and vodka, both full strength and liqueurs. Redesigning the labels and selecting new bottles has taken longer than expected but we are now on track for an early summer release. Watch this space. You Might Also Like...
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