Chase Distillery, Ltd. was a British single-estate

distillery Distillation, also classical distillation, is the process of separating the component substances of a liquid mixture of two or more chemically discrete substances; the separation process is realized by way of the selective boiling of the mixt ...

based at Chase Farm in Preston Wynne,

Herefordshire Herefordshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England, bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh ...

, United Kingdom. William Chase, the former owner and founder of Tyrrells crisps, founded the family-run business in 2008. Using ingredients sourced on-site at Rosemaund Farm, the distillery focuses its production on potato

vodka Vodka ( ; is a clear distilled beverage, distilled alcoholic beverage. Its varieties originated in Poland and Russia. Vodka is composed mainly of water and ethanol but sometimes with traces of impurities and flavourings. Traditionally, it is ...

gin Gin () is a distilled alcoholic drink flavoured with juniper berries and other botanical ingredients. Gin originated as a medicinal liquor made by monks and alchemists across Europe. The modern gin was modified in Flanders and the Netherlands ...

and

cider Cider ( ) is an alcoholic beverage made from the Fermented drink, fermented Apple juice, juice of apples. Cider is widely available in the United Kingdom (particularly in the West Country) and Ireland. The United Kingdom has the world's highest ...

. Chase Distillery won the "Best Vodka Award" at the

San Francisco World Spirits Competition The San Francisco World Spirits Competition was founded in 2001 by Anthony Dias Blue as an off-shoot of the San Francisco International Wine Competition. It assesses hundreds of entrants annually (1,407 in 2013 from 63 countries) with tastings i ...

in 2010 for its Chase vodka. The distillery was acquired by

Diageo Diageo plc ( ) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational alcoholic beverage company, with its headquarters in London, England. It is a major distributor of Scotch whisky and other spirits and operates from 132 sites around the world ...

in 2021. The Chase Distillery site in Herefordshire was closed in January 2025 with production moving to

Cameronbridge distillery Cameronbridge distillery (Scottish Gaelic: Drochaid Chamshròn) Is a grain whisky distillery located in Cameron Bridge, Scotland. History The distillery was founded in 1824 and in 1830 became the first distillery to produce grain whisky using ...

Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

Company history

On a trip to the US in 2004, Chase realised that he could use his potatoes to produce

. With this realisation, he decided to convert one of his barns into a

and purchase a large

still A still is an apparatus used to distillation, distill liquid mixtures by heating to selectively Boiling, boil and then cooling to Condensation, condense the vapor. A still uses the same concepts as a basic Distillation#Laboratory_procedures, ...

. The first harvest occurred on 1 April 2008 and the first batch of vodka was produced in June of the same year. In late 2008, the company expanded its production to include

. Today, Chase Distillery exports its products to 36 countries around the world, and since February 2016, it sells an average of 10,000 bottles per week. On 26 October 2020

released a communication that it had acquired Chase Distillery.

Production

Single-estate distillery

As a single-estate distillery, all spirits produced by Chase Distillery are made using home-grown ingredients. Chase Vodka, for example, is made from

King Edward King Edward may refer to: Monarchs of England and the United Kingdom * Edward the Elder (–924) * Edward the Martyr (–978) * Edward the Confessor (–1066) * Edward I of England (1239–1307) * Edward II of England (1284–1327) * Edward III o ...

and Lady Claire potatoes sourced straight from Rosemaund Farm. Williams Gin is made from the fermentation of organic

cider apple Cider apples are a group of apple cultivars grown for their use in the production of cider (referred to as "hard cider" in the United States). Cider apples are distinguished from "cookers" and "eaters", or dessert apples, by their bitterness or ...

s grown in the on-site orchard.

Chase Vodka

Chase Vodka (40%

abv Alcohol by volume (abbreviated as alc/vol or ABV) is a common measure of the amount of alcohol contained in a given alcoholic beverage. It is defined as the volume the ethanol in the liquid would take if separated from the rest of the solution, ...

) is the only potato-based vodka produced in England. In 2010, it won "Best Vodka Award" at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition. Other vodka products made by Chase Distillery include: *Naked Chase Apple Vodka (42% abv) * Marmalade Vodka (40% abv) * Chase Rhubarb Vodka (40% abv) * Chase Smoked Vodka (40% abv) * Chase Brandy Cask Aged Vodka (40% abv)

Chase Gin

Introduced in 2008, both Chase GB & Williams Elegant Gin is the UK's only single-estate

. Its two main variants are Williams Elegant Gin (48% abv) and Chase GB Extra Dry Gin (40% abv). In 2013, it was named one of ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

's'' "best new gins". First produced in 2008, Williams Elegant Gin is a clear, non-vintage, un-aged gin distilled from apple spirits. It contains a blend of 11 botanicals, including

juniper Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' ( ) of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere as far south ...

coriander Coriander (), whose leaves are known as cilantro () in the U.S. and parts of Canada, and dhania in parts of South Asia and Africa, is an annual plant, annual herb (''Coriandrum sativum'') in the family Apiaceae. Most people perceive the ...

seeds,

liquorice Liquorice ( Commonwealth English) or licorice (American English; see spelling differences; ) is the common name of ''Glycyrrhiza glabra'', a flowering plant of the bean family Fabaceae, from the root of which a sweet, aromatic flavouring is ...

, lemon and orange peels,

hops Hops are the flowers (also called seed cones or strobiles) of the hop plant ''Humulus lupulus'', a member of the Cannabaceae family of flowering plants. They are used primarily as a bittering, flavouring, and stability agent in beer, to whic ...

elderflower ''Sambucus'' is a genus of between 20 and 30 species of flowering plants in the family Adoxaceae. The various species are commonly referred to as elder, with the flowers as elderflower, and the fruit as elderberry. Description Elders are mostl ...

and

Bramley apple ''Malus domestica'' (Bramley's Seedling, commonly known as the Bramley apple, or simply Bramley, Bramleys or Bramley's) is an English cultivar of apple that is usually eaten cooked due to its sourness. The variety comes from a pip planted by Mary ...

s, among others. Launched in Spain in 2012, Chase GB Extra Dry Gin uses Chase Vodka as its base. To create the gin, the vodka is infused with juniper buds and berries, along with 10 botanicals including

cinnamon Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from the genus ''Cinnamomum''. Cinnamon is used mainly as an aromatic condiment and flavouring additive in a wide variety of cuisines, sweet and savoury dishes, biscuits, b ...

nutmeg Nutmeg is the seed, or the ground spice derived from the seed, of several tree species of the genus '' Myristica''; fragrant nutmeg or true nutmeg ('' M. fragrans'') is a dark-leaved evergreen tree cultivated for two spices derived from its fru ...

ginger Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice and a folk medicine. It is an herbaceous perennial that grows annual pseudostems (false stems made of the rolled bases of l ...

almond The almond (''Prunus amygdalus'', Synonym (taxonomy)#Botany, syn. ''Prunus dulcis'') is a species of tree from the genus ''Prunus''. Along with the peach, it is classified in the subgenus ''Amygdalus'', distinguished from the other subgenera ...

, coriander, liquorice and lemon. In 2016, it won a Double Gold Award at the

. Other gin products made by Chase Distillery include: * Chase Sloe and Mulberry Gin (29% abv) * Chase Seville Orange Gin (40% abv)

Maison Williams Chase Wines

Since 2012 Chase Distillery has also been producing wines at Chateau Constantin, a estate near

Aix-en-Provence Aix-en-Provence, or simply Aix, is a List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, city and Communes of France, commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. A former capital of Provence, it is the Subprefectures in France, s ...

, France. Willy's Cider, first produced in 2009, serves as the base for Williams Gins and has been bottled as a product in its own right since 2013. The distillery also produces Willy's Cider Apple Sours.

Further products

From 2014, together with Hobsons Brewery in

Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...

, Chase was developing a whisky made from

corn Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout Poaceae, grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples of Mexico, indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago ...

rye Rye (''Secale cereale'') is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is grown principally in an area from Eastern and Northern Europe into Russia. It is much more tolerant of cold weather and poor soil than o ...

, or

barley Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...

. They have been laying casks since 2012 and a cask distilled on 7 March 2012 was spotted in 2018.

References

{{Reflist, 30em

External links

Official websiteSan Francisco World Spirits CompetitionLady Claire potatoesKing Edward potatoes
British brands British companies established in 2008 Companies based in Herefordshire Distilleries in England Food and drink companies established in 2008 English whisky Food and drink industry in England