CopperheadLighting the stills
Copperhead

Craft distillers Glenmarrow, the Highlands

Patience, poured through copper.

Gin, rye and single malt, made by hand in two pot stills a mile from the sea loch. Come and watch them work.

Book a tour Follow a drop through the still

Scroll to light the fire

01 From grain to gin

From grain to gin

The wash

A cloudy, sour beer.

Malted barley and rye are mashed, cooled and left to ferment for four days. What comes out is a cloudy, sour beer of about 8 per cent. It goes into the pot still, and a sight glass on the side shows how full she is.

1,800 litres a charge

The boil

Slowly, always slowly.

The fire is lit under the pot and the copper warms from the bottom up. The wash settles to a gentle simmer and the first vapour climbs the neck. Rush it and the spirit comes out thin, so we do not.

Two hours to temperature

The worm

Back into liquid.

Along the lyne arm the vapour reaches a coil of copper sitting in cold burn water. It condenses bead by bead, and the copper pulls the sulphur out as it goes. This is why we still use copper.

Twenty-two metres of coil

The spirit safe

Drip. Drip. Drip.

The new spirit drips into a brass and glass safe, locked and watched. Our distiller decides where each part of the run goes, and only the heart of it is kept. Everything else goes round again.

About 69 per cent at the cut

The wash8% abv

I / IV

02 Botanicals

Botanicals

One, the backbone

Juniper.

Berries picked on the hill above the village and crushed the morning we use them. Piney, resinous and a little peppery. No juniper, no gin.

14 kg a charge

Two, the lift

Coriander seed.

Sweet, warm and faintly citrus. It gives the gin its lift and keeps the juniper from getting heavy. Bought from a farm down the glen.

7 kg a charge

Three, the sparkle

Citrus peel.

Bitter orange and lemon, peeled by hand and dried on racks above the boiler house. It brightens the finish and wakes up the rest.

3 kg a charge

Four, the anchor

Angelica root.

Earthy and a little musky. It holds the other flavours together so they last on the tongue. Dug in autumn, then dried for a full year.

1.2 kg a charge

Five, the signature

Heather tips.

Honeyed purple tips, cut in August by whoever is free. It is what makes this a Highland gin and not just a good one.

Cut once a year

I / V

03 Your turn

Choose a spirit.
Then make the cut.

The flame, the botanicals and the colour in the jar change with every spirit. Then decide where the run goes: heads are sharp, tails are oily, and only the hearts earn a label.

Spirit

The cut

Run
Hearts
Strength
69% abv
Colour
Gin-clear

The clean middle of the run. This is the spirit that goes in the bottle.

Drag the still to turn it

04 Bottled

Bottled

At the bench

Filled by hand.

Every bottle is filled from the bright tank at the bench, 70 cl, and held up to the light. Members of the cask club fill their own, straight from the tap on their own cask.

Cask club: 217 members

Pressed home

Corked.

A natural cork, pressed in with a gloved hand. If you are standing nearby, you will hear it.

No machines, no rush

Signed and dated

Labelled.

Cotton paper, copper foil, and a batch number written in by whoever made it. Pick it up in the shop, or take it home from your tour.

Batch 07, bottle 112 of 600

I / III

05 The small print

Small batches, no shortcuts.

Bottling strength
0% abv
for the gin, rye a touch higher
Casks resting
0
ex-bourbon, sherry and virgin oak
First licensed
0
dormant for decades, lit again by us
Tour places a day
0
four tours of six, shop open daily

06 Visit

Book a tour.

Ninety minutes in the stillhouse, a tasting of all three spirits and a dram to take away. Wear flat shoes, the floor is wet and old.

We reply within a day. A concept page, nothing is bookable.