Pendle Witch Distillery - Help us Grow!

Background

The name Pendle Witch is at our core, it means so much to the local area with regards to tourism. Visitors to the area come because of the history surrounding our farm, it’s made right by the people who know how to make things right.

The concept for Pendle Witch Distillery developed from a hobby, that expanded into an aim of producing craft spirits within the under used area of a local farm. The farm site can produce various raw ingredients and water for two of the three key ingredients of Whisky and clear spirits. As this concept was further developed, it became apparent the sustainability of a Whisky distillery would require the development of other products ‘to put the Ribble Valley on the Whisky map’. The equipment required for Whisky is perfect for the development of white spirit, so the concept was expanded to consider the production of Gin as means to establish funding for production of a ‘Straight Whisky’ and then a ‘Single Malt Whisky’.

The farm business has the means to produce the initial ingredients of both Gin and Whiskies in that it can take grain produced on the Farm and process this through to distillation. The production of Straight and Single Malt Whisky requires the alcohol to be matured in barrels as a minimum for 2 / 3 years respectively. For a small batch producer this is an expensive ‘lying in wait’, the sustainability of the business will therefore become predicated upon the optimised production of Moonshine and Gin. The Gin will be made with grain primary botanicals from source locations and secondary ingredients from the area that will be farm grown.

Initially a Straight Whisky/Moonshine has been developed utilising a 3-grain mash. Once distilled this Whisky has gone into New European Oak barrels and will remain in the cask for 6 months to 2 years depending on cask size. Once the Straight Whiskey is bottled the barrels will then be re-utilised to develop our Single Malt Whisky.

So Why Are We Different

We aim to launch ourselves into the Spirits market with a story of provenance allied with our ethic for hard work, determination and doing things the right way. The branding and marketing through the Pendle Witch name will provide us with a different approach and story. The single source farm provenance for spirit production will complement the branding which is designed to capture the heritage of a team that is used to fixing, doing and producing to the highest exacting standards: We will control all of our ingredients and processes, from the seed selection to cask size: our process is unique to the distillery industry

Ribble Valley is not currently on the Whisky Map. The distilleries that offer a true grain to glass experience are limited, even from a Scotch Malt Whisky perspective these are few and far between. From a perspective of Pendle Witch Distillery, we would offer a grain to glass experience by producing a Moonshine Straight Whiskey (Bourbon) as one of our intents.

Also, we intend to develop our distillery tour, whereby customers can see our operation from source to bottle being produced. This will include fully guided tours of the water, fermentation, and distilling process as well as filter to barrels storage and history behind the spirit industry; from the illegal to the now legal aspect of the industry. With the added option to purchase our products within the farm shop.

We believe we are offering something unique to the Whisky Map. Doing this we also understand our pathway is built on Gin and straight spirits, whilst Gin is in a period of renaissance, we expect the timing is right to enter into the spirits market. The Gin market is vast and we envisage this area can help launch our brand and provide a firm basis for building our presence into the Whisky / Whiskey markets. A significant amount of the current Gin producers are integrating powdered ingredients with procured ethanol. Pendle Witch distillery believe our methodology will bring to the market artisanal products made purely with simple farm sourced products, combined with old fashioned hard work.

We have a perfect opportunity to develop our products in an environmentally and sustainable manner. By keeping the production within the total control of the distillery we can demonstrate true provenance and real heritage craft. The small batch production methods will facilitate us in remaining agile and responsive to market needs, whether this is flavoured offerings downstream or longer maturation periods for the whiskies.

We have a desire to create and build a sustainable company that will allow us to demonstrate our skills and work ethic; to create a company within the Ribble Valley that, over time, will be globally recognised.

Our patented process – The Witches Hat

Pendle Witch Distillery is the first distillery since the early 1900s to achieve a UK granted patent on a pot still. Copper has been used in the making of pot stills for hundreds of years due to its ability to conduct heat efficiently. This enables close control of the heat applied to the liquor, which is especially important to any distiller. Copper is also malleable, easy to bend and manipulate into complex shapes seen in the construction of copper whisky stills.

Copper is also known for its catalyst properties regarding certain chemicals. The copper aids in the removal of the ‘off’ flavours in the distillation process, so it is especially important to any whisky distiller to maximise the contact between the vapour spirit produced in the distillation process to come  into contact with the copper.

On most standard pot stills, the helmet is narrow at the base, then widens, then back to narrow before going over the swan neck/lyne arm. Some distilleries are proud of how tall the helmet/hat is, and the main reason for this is to promote reflux within the helmet and therefore more spirit contacting the copper before it traverses over the lyne arm towards the condenser to convert back to its liquid state.

It was with this in mind that the development of the ‘Witches Hat’ came to life. If you could increase reflux within the helmet or hat this would improve the quality of the final spirit produced via distillation. The brim of the hat conducts heat away which acts as a heat sink, therefore attracting the vapour towards the copper resulting in more vapour spirit contacting the copper (i.e. more reflux), before it traverses over the lyne arm towards the condenser.

The result is the distillate becoming a cleaner stronger spirit without the loss of primary flavours.                                  

Production

Aims

Using our carefully selected grain we will create distilled Gin and Whiskies in the heart of Ribble Valley. We will use traditional methods to produce globally recognised products. To develop small batch spirits with a view to placing Pendle Witch Distillery on the whiskey map. Our aims are as follows:

• Short: To become a sustainable distiller through the production of Moonshine & Gin

• Medium: Develop the Whiskies and seek to move into international markets

• Long: a fully developed product range producing premium-class spirits for the global market

Key Personnel

David Moore is 50 years old experienced business professional, locally born and bred in the Ribble Valley. David has run the family firm since 1993 and now has a desire to utilise a local farm to produce something that is identifiable to both the farm and the local area that will continue and grow into the future.

Product

The distillery will produce multiple spirits from grain fruit and water sourced directly from the farm bore hole supply. Whilst there is a complexity associated with Whisky we want to bring products to market that are of the highest quality and accessible to a new generation.

There are geographical indicators to Straight Whiskey (Bourbon) and Single Malt Whisky (Scotch) and we see this as an opportunity rather than barriers to entry. We intend to offer a Gin, American Straight Whiskey and a Scotch but the rules, not the methods, prevent us from naming them as such. We realise we cannot replicate the names or mass production but our fearless attitude to produce our spirits in the heart of the country will provide an experience in spirit produced with passion and hard work to ensure our small batch methods offer excellence.

Why are we looking for funding?

The investment in Pendle Witch Distillery offers a unique opportunity to be part of an exciting business operating within booming industry. The distillery has progressed through the early stages of setup and product development, and is now moving into the more intensive production and sales phase. The business is seeking further support to aid the following initiatives:

Ramp up production

The distillery has now completed the first and most challenging step of designing and installing the equipment, and creating a product that it can be proud of. The next phase of the business plan is to increase the production of the various spirits to give us stock available to take to market. This will include our exclusive line of moonshine (new make whisky spirit), different varieties of gin (including our unique grain to glass gin) and maturing whisky barrels.

Increase of the stockpile of maturing whisky

The most important part of our business plan is to produce a stockpile of maturing whisky that will become the catalyst to the business in the short, medium and long term. In the short term, Pendle Witch can sell barrels of whisky as they are maturing to investors. In the medium term, once the barrels have matured for at least 3 years we can sell it as bottled whisky, but an important factor is to ensure that we have enough in our own stockpile to retain for the longer term to sell 5, 8, 10 and 15 year old whisky. This additional production requires finance to be able to produce now and sell later.

Expansion to the bonded warehouse

To facilitate the increased stockpile of maturing spirit, we will need additional space to store the barrels. We currently have a bonded warehouse to support our production in the short term, but as the quantity increases, we will need to create a new bonded warehouse. Due to our rural location, we are fortunate to have plenty of space to do this, but the construction and development will need to be funded.

Sales and marketing

The business will undertake a sales and marketing campaign to enhance local awareness of the distillery to attract local visitors, as well as a nationwide digital marketing push to generate direct retail sales. Alongside this, the management team will be working closely with several wholesalers and retailers to expand this area of the business’ revenue streams.

Completion of the visitor’s experience

Pendle Witch Distillery is situated in a beautiful rural part of the Ribble Valley in Lancashire, and as such offers visitors a unique opportunity to experience the distillery within these surroundings. Built in a traditional farm building, visitors can come and see how our spirits are made and enjoy a taste of the products. They can relax in our bespoke mezzanine bar directly overlooking the distillery at work or spend some money in our shop stocked with all our spirits and branded merchandise.

Latest News

We are now proud to announce the first award achieved at Pendle Witch Distillery for our Genevieve Gin.  Achieving a silver medal at the Gin Masters awards in July 2024 is a fantastic achievement within our first 6 months of production, and a testament to the hard work and development of high class products being produced at the distillery.

The Spirits Business - Gin Masters 2024