Tour Adnams Distillery in Southwold & Taste Suffolk Gin, Vodka and Whisky

Adnams Copper House Distillery

After a visit to a bourbon distillery, Jonathan Adnams and his head engineer, John McCarthy, decided to build a small distillery in the heart of Adnams historic brewery in Southwold.

Choosing a room that once housed the old brewing coppers, they invested £700k and opened the Copper House distillery in 2010.

The grand plan was to use a beer wash, fermented in the brewery, to distill high quality vodka in small batches. Just like their beer, the wash would come from grains grown in East Anglia – barley, oats, wheat and rye.

See How Vodka is Made From Local Grains

The tour of Adnams distillery starts by showing you the beer stripping column where the alcohol is stripped away from the beer wash. It produces ‘low wines’ which are diluted and go into the Copper Pot still.

In conjunction with two huge rectifying columns which rise majestically to the ceiling, the different alcohols are separated out to make vodka. It’s a hot and stuffy environment and a process that requires surprisingly few people.

Adnams distill three distinct vodkas using different grain washes.

East Coast vodka, voted ‘the World’s Best Vodka’ at The International Wine & Spirit Competition 2014, is produced from a barley wash; Rye Hill, from a predominately rye wash; and Adnams Longshore vodka, from one combining barley, oats and wheat giving it a warm creaminess.

See How Adnams Make Their Gin

Unlike many gin distilleries that buy in a neutral grain spirit to make their gin, Adnams can use their own vodka.

They dilute it before adding to the pot, botanicals such as juniper, coriander, cardamon, and orris root – from the iris flower. The contents of the pot are soaked overnight and heated up like a giant kettle and redistilled.

If you feel inspired when doing the gin tour, sign up for Adnams ‘Make Your Own Gin’ experience. Using mini copper stills, you can create a gin recipe by selecting botanicals you like and go home with your very own a bottle of gin.

Pomme Pom and Whisky

On Adnams distillery tour, you’ll also see that they love to experiment.

Hogan’s cider is distilled and stored in oak barrels for 2 years to produce Pomme Pom, a 40% apple spirit, similar to Calvados, and there’s whisky too.

Although young in whisky terms, they have released both a 3 year-old single malt, and a triple grain bottled in 2013. You see whisky barrels in the cellar including those made from French virgin oak which imparts a vanilla flavour and helps to age the whisky more quickly.

Tasting Notes

At the end of the tour, there’s a tutored tasting in Adnams cellar bar where you’re invited to try their gin, vodka and whisky.

For a different gin tasting experience, try Adnam’s Rising Sun gin. It’s a gin made from rye grown on Jonathan Adnam’s farm in Raydon, a name which literally means ‘Rye on the Hill’.

With 8 botanicals in the recipe, including lemongrass and matcha tea, it has an earthy flavour. Drink it with tonic and a warming slice of fresh ginger.

The Copper House gin with orange and hibiscus is delicious served with Indian tonic water and a slice of orange. Try First Rate gin with a slice of lemon and a sprig of thyme.

How to Find Adnams Copper House Distillery in Southwold

Adnams Distillery, East Green, Southwold,Suffolk, IP18 6JW