Oxford UK, March 2022: After the success of last year’s distillery experiences, The Oxford Artisan Distillery is delighted to confirm that they will be hosting both Distillery Tours and Whisky Tours throughout 2022.
Founded in 2017, the historic city’s first-ever distillery produces a wide range of spirits including Gin, Vodka and Whisky – all lovingly - and slowly - crafted using raw materials and methods from simpler, unadulterated and chemical-free, times. The team are offering two unique experiences: The Distillery Tour and The Whisky Tour.
The Distillery Tour
A fun interactive hour-long tour hosted in the impressive setting of the distillery’s home, a carefully restored, Grade II listed, 18th century threshing barn. The tour commences with a delicious Oxford Rye G&T and includes expertly-hosted tastings of the distillery’s double award-winning vodka, three craft gins and Oxford Rye Spirit. Held 6 days a week at various times throughout the days to accommodate all diaries.
The Whisky Tour
Every Friday evening the distillery comes to life as the unique weekly 90 minute whisky tour takes guests through the Grade II listed barn and still house, led by a member of the distilling team. Beginning with a delicious Whisky Highball cocktail, you will be guided through a tasting of 3 whiskies and Oxford Rye Spirit.
Visitors on both tours will come face-to-face with the distillery’s stunning Steampunk-esque stills, the magnificent metallic beasts that are named ’Nautilus’ and ’Nemo’. Both were painstakingly built from scratch to original designs by steam engine craftsmen at one of the last great industrial coppersmiths in England – the team which rebuilt the boiler of the Flying Scotsman. More than three tonnes of six-millimetre thick copper were painstakingly heated, cooled, hammered, grinded and then sanded to achieve the stunning finish on both stills.
As visitors move past the stills and around the distillery, they’ll be able to spot quirky elements of this very English distillery – such as the Oxford rowing oar which the distillers previously had to use to turn the ‘mash’, the process of mixing grains, water and yeast to produce the initial alcohol. Luckily for the current team, this backbreaking work has now been automated!
But, in other respects, the distillery still happily sticks to practices of the past as inspiration. Not only is it one of very few distilleries which continues to grow and distil its own crops, it’s the only one in Britain to use heritage grains that had commonly been used until the late 19th century.
These grains have been resurrected by the distillery’s Head of Farming and are grown in vibrant, genetically diverse fields, mostly within 50 miles of Oxford. In strict accordance with regenerative farming practices, no pesticides or herbicides are used and the distillery’s farmers embrace ancient, gentler, methods of land management – such as using clover to suppress weeds and sequester carbon and avoiding the immensely destructive effect of ploughing a field. By working naturally with the land and soil, biodiversity is massively boosted, contributing to an abundance of wildflowers, insects and birds across all the distillery’s fields.
At just £20 a ticket for The Distillery Tour and £40 for The Whisky Tour, these experiences make a wonderful gift, group outing or fun weekend activity.
More information can be found online here: www.theoxfordartisandistillery.com