A pioneer of the contemporary British craft distilling movement, Chase Distillery produces spirits that capture the flavours and passions of the English countryside.
The story of Chase Vodka is one of a potato farmer done good, of the goodness of the land, of heritage and pedigree, and of a family that single-handedly put contemporary English distilling on the map.
When the world gives you potatoes, make fancy potato chips. At least that’s the way William Chase looked at things. Having struggled with a career as a potato farmer in England’s bucolic Herefordshire, it was in 2002 that William, by then a potato trader, realized that the potato’s weakness was in its packaging and presentation. Supermarkets were increasingly looking for produce that looked good rather than just tasted good. His solution? To create Tyrrells, a premium English potato chip brand that tapped into a growing consciousness of locality and pedigree that he went on to sell for a king’s ransom in 2008.
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Left with idle hands and even more idle potatoes (small potatoes were too small to make into chips and still too ugly to appeal to supermarkets), William continued to innovate; after trying his first potato vodka during a night holding up the mahogany with Americans at a bar in Barbados, the farmer-turned-entrepreneur set about building a farm distillery and creating his own potato-based spirit.
“My aim for Chase Distillery was simple”, says William, “to create a product of provenance and pedigree, which would change the way people drink white spirits”. Again, like it had been with Tyrrells, it was all about a locally produced product that came from a family operation, not some mega conglomerate. Britain’s only single-estate distillery was born.
Hmm, rich guy gets bored and makes his own vodka. It’s not an unfamiliar story but unlike so many vanity projects, Chase Vodka and its subsequent flavoured variations (the Chase Marmalade makes a bloody good Breakfast Martini) and gins, is a true tale of passion, and today the award-winning distillery continues as a family affair, with William’s sons both playing pivotal roles. Using starchy potato varieties like Lady Rosetta and Golden Wonder, all grown on the Chase estate, the distillery produces a distinctive single-estate vodka (available in Hong Kong at Jebsen Fine Wines) that gives grain-based spirits a true run for their money.
Single-estate is a concept that’s increasingly sought after by consumers, but it wasn’t until William began producing vodka made from potatoes grown on the same farm as the distillery, and water taken from the estate’s own spring, that the concept, already prevalent in the wine and coffee industries, was introduced to the British spirits scene.
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“I wanted to give gin and vodka a new lease of life and some pedigree, to make people proud to drink these spirits,” says William. “Everyone who works at Chase understands that this is a labour of love and that the single most important ingredient in our spirit is, as French winemakers would say, the “terroir” or the land that they originate from.” It shouldn’t come as a surprise that after the success of Chase vodka, William brought a vineyard in Provence that produces biodynamic rose.
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William was always set on creating a vodka that stood apart from the mass-produced products known globally by their multi-million-dollar marketing campaigns. Instead, he was determined to produce a spirit that was a living homage to Herefordshire, to English rural traditions, and to the land on which the country’s economy was forged. In addition, he was passionate about producing a product that isn’t mass produced and isn’t laced with additives – Chase vodka has just two ingredients, potatoes and water, which are triple distilled in small batches (using the world’s tallest copper column still we might add), ensuring a super pure and 100 percent natural spirit. Unlike many ‘boutique’ or ‘artisanal’ producers who buy their neutral grain spirit and simply dress it up with botanicals, Chase is made from scratch, as it was always meant to be.
What does a single-estate potato vodka taste like you might ask? In this case, you’ll find white pepper and fresh, starchy potato on the nose, and black pepper, macadamia nuts and a sweet and ever-so-slightly creaminess on the palate, followed by a clean, smooth and rounded finish. Complex, pure, fragrant yet earth, this is a vodka that will catch your attention the second you open a bottle.
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While Chase is still best known for its ‘field-to-bottle’ vodka (which was named world’s best in 2010), an estate gin was something that was always on the drawing board. After tasting his first potato vodka during that trip to the Caribbean, William researched the spirit extensively, discovering in due course that neutral grain spirit – aka very basic, mass-produced vodka – forms the foundation of gin. From that point, the development of a Chase gin, it seems, was inevitable.
However, William wasn’t content with producing just one gin. Instead Chase Distillery produces two, Williams GB Extra Dry Gin (which takes Bill’s mother’s maiden name), produced from the same Chase English potato vodka, which is in turn infused with ten botanicals, including juniper buds, seasonal berries and ginger, which delivers a distinctive spice; and Williams Elegant 48 Gin, which has as its foundation a spirit made from cider-apples grown in the estate’s orchards that’s then laced with elderflower, hops, Bramley apples, angelica and wild botanicals from the estate meadows that are kept a close secret. The result is a pair of smooth yet complex gins that pays tribute to both England’s distilling traditions, and to the land from which they come.
Lovers of classic London dry style gins should be reaching for Williams GB, with its dry zesty nose expressing touches of spice, its palate of dark chocolate, citrus, cinnamon and ginger, and its full bodied and robust finish that lends itself perfectly to gin and tonics.
Alternatively, if you’re looking for seasonal gin cocktails, Williams Elegant 48 is packed with crisp apple flavours and touches of licorice, elderflower, and orange, with a herbaceous finish that begs to be served tall and cold.
As you can expect, the innovation didn’t stop there. Bill Chase and his team has since crafted Chase Elderflower Liqueur; a curious limited-release Chase English Oak Smoked Vodka, crafted from spring water that’s left to pick up the aromas of the smokehouse; the acclaimed Chase Marmalade vodka, made with a conserve of oranges from Seville and Valencia; and a Williams Pink Grapefruit Gin that pairs GB gin with pink grapefruit and pomelos.
The distillery also produces a range of products that are yet to make their way to Asia, including Williams Aged Sloe Gin using berries handpicked from the Herefordshire hedgerows; Chase Rhubarb Vodka, which taps into one of the most popular English summertime flavours; Chase Raspberry Liqueur, which boasts a perfect balance between bitter fruit and sugar; a blackcurrant liqueur with rich bursts of flavour and a deep, brooding hue; a Williams Seville Orange Gin that captures the flavours of Italy, from citrus peel and licorice to bitter almond; and Naked Chase, the same vodka produced from cider-apples that forms a base for the Elegant 48 gin.
“I have spent most of my farming life under great pressure to grow crops in volume to make ends meet,” says William. “Now, crafting our gin [and vodka] from biodynamically grown crops, I can finally grow and make something sustainable, with real pedigree.”
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Here are some of the best ways to enjoy Chase vodkas and Williams gins:
Elegance in Cider
- 50ml Williams Elegant 48 Gin
- 25ml honey
- 12.5ml apple cider vinegar
- 12.5ml lemon juice
Shake all ingredients together and strain into a wine glass filled with ice. Top with apple cider and garnish with a slice of apple.
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The ACV Bloody Mary
- 2tbs apple cider vinegar
- 50ml Chase vodka
- 100ml tomato consommé (or tomato juice)
- 1tbs tabasco sauce
- 1tbs Worcestershire sauce
- 1tbs freshly grated horseradish
- The juice of half a lime
- Salt and pepper
- 1 lime edge
- 1 celery stalk
Build all ingredients (except garnish) over ice in a tall glass filled with ice. Stir and season with salt and pepper.
Salty Dog
- 1tbs Salt
- 1tbs Grated pink grapefruit zest
- 50ml Pink grapefruit juice
- 50ml Williams GB gin
- 2 Strips of grapefruit peel
Combine the salt and citrus zest on a plate. Rub the grapefruit peel around the rim of a glass and them rim with the salt. Combine the grapefruit juice and gin in a shaker filled with ice and stir before pouring onto the glass.
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Skinny Chase
- 50ml Chase vodka
- Juice of half a lime
- Dash of citrus bitters (we recommend grapefruit)
- Soda water
Pour all ingredients into a tumble, fill with ice and top with soda water.
Marmalade Sour
- 50ml Chase Marmalade vodka
- 25ml lemon juice
- ½ fresh egg white
- 3 Dashes of Angostura Bitters
Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled martini glass.
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