New Silent Pool Distillers Have Lots To Shout About

Published on: 1 Apr, 2015
Updated on: 4 Apr, 2015

An aromatic hand-crafted gin made by the Silent Pool Distillers at Albury has been talent spotted for international stardom since its launch earlier in March.

Tom Hutchings and Cory Mason from Silent Pool Distillers.

Not only was it selected for the maiden voyage of the brand new P&O liner Britannia even before it was available in shops, but it has also won the distillery a place on a three-day Grown in Britain Insight Visit to Expo Milano 2015, in May.

South East producers were chosen by competition for the opportunity to meet buyers, potential partners and business prospects from around the world, and director Ian McCulloch of Silent Pool Distillers was delighted. “It is really good news,” he said.

The gin is a distinctive spirit made with water from the Silent Pool spring and its flavour, created from a finely tuned aromatic blend of kaffir, lime, bergamot, linden and elderflower complementing the juniper, is so subtly attractive that it’s said it can be drunk on the rocks!

The gin is bottled.

Silent Pool Gin is the first major commercial product from the distillery, which literally overlooks the Silent Pool. The first spirit they made was also a gin, Albury Limited Release, which has absolutely flown off the shelves in shops local to the village since its launch before Christmas.

This gin will continue to be exclusive to the local area, and to Alnwick Castle in Northumberland, while Silent Pool Gin is already set for export. The Alnwick connection? The distillery is on the Albury Estate, owned by the Duke of Northumberland.

Pallets of Silent Pool Gin have already been sold to South Africa and Denmark and there is interest from Italy, Sweden, France, the Philippines and Thailand as well as the UK. The team has also been asked to host gin tastings for Eurostar first class passengers at St Pancras station.

The director of Silent Pool Distillers Ian McCulloch.

Head distiller Cory Mason and director Ian McCulloch were at the London Gin Festival in February and they were struck by the difference between their product and other speciality gins. Theirs is handcrafted, by them, from the blend of the botanicals through to the finished product, compared with other gins that are contracted out to major distillers to produce.

Cory and Ian were able to talk to potential buyers from all over the world about the ethos of the Silent Pool brand – its aim to produce delicious hand crafted high quality spirits and to distil the essence of the Surrey Hills, using natural Silent Pool spring water. The whole process is sustainable as the boiler is powered by a 1970s Barford Invicta Major, allegedly rescued from Liverpool Docks which runs on wood from the Albury Estate.

Outside the still house, land has been cleared by the estate and a terrace has been built overlooking the Silent Pool. It will be a magical place to sit and sample the spirits and soak up the romance of the pool’s legend of wicked King John chasing the saintly maid.

Both king and maid can be spotted among the tangle of botanicals embossed in copper on the teal coloured bottles of Silent Pool gin.

For more details check out the Silent Pool Distillers’ website.

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