Oxford’s first ever distillery, The Oxford Artisan Distillery announce their updated tour schedule for 2023 including 6 days of whisky tours, just in time for Easter.
The whisky tours will give individuals the chance to visit the distillery and enjoy a 90-minute experience. They will be welcomed with an Oxford Rye Whisky Highball, a classic whisky mash - 1 part whisky 2 parts soda and muddled mint - and then learn more about the unique farming practices as well as visit the handcrafted stills. The tours are led by the expert distillery team and include a tasting of 3 whiskies and Oxford Rye Spirit.
At the heart of the whisky is the grain. And the tour takes individuals through the distilleries unique sustainable farming approach and the heritage grains they use, which have been specifically cultivated for them.
Visitors will then 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 by steam engine craftsmen at one of the last great industrial coppersmiths in England (the team which rebuilt the boiler of the Flying Scotsman no less). 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 individuals 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!
The Oxford Artisan Distillery Whisky Tour is £40 a ticket; it runs 6 days a week Tuesday – Sunday with 2 tours on a Saturday. The tours make a wonderful gift, group outing, family fun, or fun weekend activity.
More information can be found online here: www.theoxfordartisandistillery.com
