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Welcome to Hot Wood Distillery, Producers of Uniquely Crafted Welsh Gin

by Stephen Booth, Distiller and Sole Proprietor

Considering that I’ve worked in the veterinary pharmaceutical industry for most of the last 20 years, it’s quite a departure to now find myself distilling craft gin. Countless people have asked me why, with whom, what your motives are, etc. The simple answer is that the whole process is immersed in my background of science and that the market was there to explore.

It’s All About the Drinks

According to an article published in December last year, gin is now the second most popular drink sold in the UK on-trade. Vodka being the first, which is overtaking whiskies and liqueurs for the first time. I wonder if this is because of a resurgent taste for juniper after years of a spirit which has only really existed on the shelves of licensed premises, a far cry from the heyday of the London gin houses of the 1800s.

If you look at the market now, however, it’s a multitude of mainstream and craft dry gins, flavoured gins of every description with a host of tonics and garnishes to suit all gin lovers’ tastes. My incentive has always been to keep things simple. Feel satisfied with the dry gin you produce, add your favourite accompanying flavour, and finally sit back and enjoy.

For me, the most significant hurdles have been attaining the necessary licensing and achieving a blend of botanicals which appeals to a broad spectrum of gin drinkers. Licensing isn’t easy for very valid reasons and believe me when I say it’s a protracted process! The botanical blend is also a challenge as every gin you can imagine has common ingredients. Juniper being only one of them!

Why Hot Wood Gin?

Hot Wood Gin includes a blend of eight botanicals from sustainable sources. It is a full-bodied, dry-craft gin. Everything is made to be produced from scratch. These include the base alcohol which I’m confident gives a smoother, cleaner taste on the palate. We make it in small batches and I like to leave the gin to “smooth” before being sold to customers.

So, why Hot Wood? Endless hours were wasted (or maybe well spent) thinking of distillery names. Also my wife and I tried to be creative, to think of something different to stand out from the crowd. I even put one name through the process of gaining Intellectual Property, although I found that another company had protected the name. Again, we decided to keep things simple and give a nod to the village where we live: Coedpoeth. The English translation of Coedpoeth (yes, I’m English by birth) is ‘Hot Wood’, derived from the area’s history of charcoal production. We agreed that it was perfect and paid respect to five generations of my wife’s family who have been educated and lived in the village.

I hope you are intrigued enough to contact me and discover more about Hot Wood Gin. Whether you are a member of the public or operate with a premises license.

You can visit our website at www.hotwooddistillery.co.uk or email us at hotwooddistillery@hotmail.com.