English whisky that's playful, experimental, down to earth
East London may have an industrial reputation, but the neighbourhood of Mile End has a great park and canal running right through the middle of it. By the edge of this canal sits one of the capital's two whisky distilleries: East London Liquor Company (the other being Bimber).
I'll call it the ELLC for short…
Head distiller Sam greets me at the distillery, which has its own bar incorporated into the building. The bar alone is worth a visit, and their selection includes some rare bottlings from Sonoma - an American distillery who ELLC have cooperated with.
This distillery has been doing everything in house since 2016 (brewing used to happen elsewhere), when they also got a big wash still in to ramp up production. ELLC runs a bunch of gin through their stills early in the year, and then refocuses on whisky after that.
The details:
- Double distillation (with stills run fairly slow)
- 3 Holstein steam-fired pot stills: one wash (1700L) and two spirit (650L and 450L) with optional reflux columns
- Distilling occurs 5 days per week
- Wash still charged with half of each wash batch
- Approx. 25,000 LPA (four to five hogsheads per week)
Sam explains that the spirit stills are deliberately underfilled, as this can improve the yield. The columns are only used to induce a little extra reflux in their rye distillation, but even then, most plates are left open.
The fermentation process is one ELLC really focuses on as a place to create distinctive flavours. Sam explains how they start off with just half a batch of wort. This starts fermenting, and the other half then joins it the next day with the yeast already active.
The ELLC ferment takes about 4 days in the summer and 5 to 6 in the winter - they don’t have a lot of protection from the elements, and the temperature of mains water fluctuates with the seasons!
Since May 2023, ELLC has been trialling barrels of spirit produced using 16 different yeasts strains! No automatic leaning on M1 or dismissal of the flavors created here, that's for sure. When I visited, they were preparing to make some sour fermented mash the following week…
So far, Sam's personal favorite has come from cider yeast. This experimentation can be a bit costly, as wine and saison yeasts come at very different prices from bakers' or distillers'. The ELLC rye and single malt whiskies so far come from a combination of different yeast types.
Sam used to work for London Distilling Co., the first London whisky makers who have since died out (following financial issues) and been replaced by ELLC and Bimber.
The image above comes from Bimber's website
What’s the difference between these two London distilleries? On the one hand, it kind of reflects the east/west divide within the city. Bimber targets dedicated whisky consumers, the kind of nerds who get excited about their floor malting practices and are happy to pay high prices for high quality. This exclusivity matches the high-end suburbs of West London, while ELLC’s more friendly, playful, and down to earth style suits the revitalised, working class east. That said, Bimber aren’t snobs, and they were founded by a Polish couple who moved to London in the 2010s: ‘bimber’ means ‘moonshine’ in Polish.
On the one hand, it kind of reflects the east/west divide within the city. Bimber targets dedicated whisky consumers, the kind of nerds who get excited about their floor malting practices and are happy to pay high prices for high quality. This exclusivity matches the high-end suburbs of West London, while ELLC's more friendly, playful, and down to earth style suits the revitalised, working class east. That said, Bimber aren't snobs, and they were founded by a Polish couple who moved to London in the 2010s: 'bimber' means 'moonshine' in Polish.
It's not that casks are unimportant to ELLC, but they see these more as ways to round a spirit - the core , for them, starts with yeast. It's a refreshingly novel and rare approach for a distillery to take in comparison to most in Scotland and Ireland. In fact, ELLC started with some 60L to try and get some rapid ageing going, but these tiny casks ended up producing something far too tannic.
As Sam puts it, the whisky needs to breathe. The cask isn’t there just to let whisky soak up some necessary quota of wood flavouring. The whisky needs time to mellow, and the tiny casks don’t allow for that so easily.
This is no Scotch-replica, especially in comparison to some of the earlier and larger English distilleries (e.g., the EWC and Lakes).
An encouraging side of ELLC is how they treat their own employees. There's a lot of long employment and retention here, so a good sign re: working conditions. This is part of a deliberate approach by the distillery's owner and founder, Alex, but Sam also describes how he aligns with that perspective himself. It's something which is hard to plan from the start, but the distillery now does all the better for it.
Now, the whiskey itself!
First, I try ELLC's 5YO single cask rye whisky. All their rye whiskey is produced using a 55/45 split of rye and barley malts. Aged in a second-fill Chardonnay cask (made of French oak), this whiskey was a rich 57% ABV. The nose was amazing, easily mistaken for oloroso and so rich. While the smell of oloroso-aged whiskey pours into your lungs, the palate is actually fairly light thanks to the nature of the underlying spirit.
The saison yeast used in this batch adds a range of fruity notes, which Sam explains can change based on the temperature of the fermentation! Warmer temperatures lead to yeast producing more sulphur, for example. The fruit here is proper foam banana, Gros Michel[link] - it really tastes more like French whiskeys I'm used to than anything British!
Next, a 2021 marriage of different ELLC single malt casks. The whiskey is about 5 and a half years old, with about the last year and a half spent in a Radikon merlot cask. The effect is a little dark and sour, with some cherry aromas but not too many tannins. Red wine is apparently quite rare for ELLC to use. Overall, quite a savoury dram.
ELLC have also collaborated with the Melody whisky bar in west London, producing some single cask bottlings for them. Tasting one - a single malt with a long finishing in PX - I get quite a fresh PX from this specifically. There's a waxy mouthful and a smooth, aromatic palate.
Next, a special bottling for Whisky Exchange. This is a rye whiskey fully aged in oloroso for nearly five years, produced using a Belgian saison yeast. To me, it smells like a French malt again! A rich, brandy-esque dram where the rich sherry really bites.
One unique dram is a single malt bottling produced using maris otter barley before being aged in peated casks. Sam explains how the barley for this batch was kilned darker (more towards a caramel malt) and fermented using simpler yeast varieties. This whiskey spent all four years of it's life in an old Laphroaig cask, and it manages to keep fruity flavors alongside the smoky edge. In fact, the palate could almost be strongly peated. It tips along the edge of being an ashtray flavor, but the sweetness and body sustains it into the finish.
Of course, ELLC also makes other spirits. I mentioned the gin above, but their vodka and rums are also worth checking out. Bottled like wine and available as refills within London? You can't say this distillery doesn't have style!
If you want to visit, ELLC runs tours on Fridays and Saturdays - one for gin, and one for whisky. They also have a tasting room downstairs, hosting whiskey blending schools and other events - you could have it yourself if you want a group of 12 to 15 and some great spirits all in one place…
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