ABOUT US

Shakespeare Distillery is an artisan spirit producer. Everything we produce is in small handcrafted batches, ensuring we can devote our time and attention to creating the best tasting spirits around.

Being based in Stratford upon Avon, we wanted to create something authentic to our area and what is more authentic to us than Shakespeare? Of course we couldn’t distil the bard himself into a bottle but we could look at the Tudor period in which he lived and bring the essence of this into our spirits, the first of which is Stratford Gin.

The Tudor period was a significant time for spirit production, it was a time of change, the monasteries had a stranglehold on distillation (the process used to create an alcoholic spirit) and its primary purpose in their hands was medicinal. Thanks to Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries the Tudor period became a time of great discovery, experimentation and innovation within the world of spirit production as people soon discovered it could be a very nice recreational drink too. Thanks Henry!

At Shakespeare Distillery we aim to recapture this period of innovation by fusing traditional and in some cases forgotten ingredients with modern techniques to create exciting new spirits.

The distillery is fortunate enough to be located on the Alscot Estate, which is a beautiful 4000 acre country estate on the outskirts of Stratford upon Avon with a history extending back to the middle ages. To get to the distillery you pass through rolling open fields, old farm buildings and an enchanting wood, you also need to navigate past a bouquet of pheasants and the occasional deer!

The distillery building itself was constructed during the second world war, whilst not necessarily being as beautiful as its surroundings it does have its own charm and serves as the perfect base for starting up a new distillery (now that its had a few additions, such as running water!)

All operations are performed within the distillery, we don’t outsource any of the process to another company, ensuring quality and control is maintained by us. This means we distil, bottle, label, seal and distribute all from the small distillery building and all by hand and in small batches with love, care and attention.

To produce gin you need a Still. Choosing the right still is a major decision for any distillery and we are happy we have made the right choice in choosing ours. Here at Shakespeare Distillery we like to fuse the old with the new to create something special and our still ‘Portia’ is no different. Portia features as the heroine of Shakespeare’s play ‘The Merchant of Venice’ and is known as a smart and discerning lady who steers the course of events to get what she desires.

Our Portia is a very modern lady, when combined with the Tudor garden botanicals we know you will agree this discerning lady helps produce something very special. Portia has a capacity of 250 litres and is heavily insulated to prevent loss of heat, reducing the power requirement. This is combined with a computer controlled cooling condenser, which lets only the necessary amount of water in to cool the vapour down. Overall this means Portia is pretty environmentally friendly as far as stills go.

Portia also uses an efficient amount of copper too. Copper can play an important part in removing undesirable sulphur compounds when making alcohol. To this end Portia has copper strategically placed in the vapour path, meaning every drop of alcohol comes into contact with it before leaving the still.