{"id":2331,"date":"2025-12-08T18:48:45","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T17:48:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.anglarnasandel.se\/?p=2331"},"modified":"2025-11-25T20:52:36","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T19:52:36","slug":"the-london-distillery-company-an-idea-finally-allowed-to-land","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.anglarnasandel.se\/?p=2331&lang=en","title":{"rendered":"The London Distillery Company \u2013 an idea finally allowed to land"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some stories in the whisky world feel almost too cinematic to be true. The London Distillery Company is one of them. It all begins back in 1807, when engineer Ralph Dodd decided to challenge London\u2019s rather shaky spirits industry. His vision? To create honest, clean, well-crafted spirits at a time when shortcuts and adulteration were more common than quality. Unfortunately, it never became more than an idea \u2014 at least not then.<\/p>\n

Fast-forward more than two centuries and the name comes to life again. In 2011, a small but ambitious distilling operation opened in Battersea, becoming London\u2019s first whisky distillery since Lea Valley shut its doors in 1903. Traditional methods were mixed with a modern, almost playful curiosity. The result was a range of intriguing casks that genuinely rekindled a piece of the city\u2019s forgotten whisky heritage.
But this chapter, too, came to an abrupt end. In 2020 the stills went silent, and once again the idea of The London Distillery Company was left half-realised.<\/p>\n

And now \u2014 in 2025 \u2014 the project enters its third, and perhaps most promising, chapter. The new team behind the distillery doesn\u2019t talk about a restart, but about \u201cbreathing life into a historic future project\u201d \u2014 and that feels about right. The aim is to tie London\u2019s craft tradition to a distinctly modern expression. To let the city\u2019s spirit of innovation find its place in the glass. Their direction is clear: world-class whisky rooted in history, with a firm look toward the future.<\/p>\n

The whisky is built on heritage barley, 1920s brewer\u2019s yeast and a mix of American, Spanish and English oak casks \u2014 all in the spirit of fulfilling Ralph Dodd\u2019s original intention: capturing the flavours of tradition without getting stuck in the predictable. In their own words: \u201cThe London Distillery Company was an idea that never got fully realised. This is our chance to do it right.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard not to appreciate that attitude. And there\u2019s something genuinely charming about seeing a 200-year-old vision finally take shape \u2014 not as a nostalgic throwback, but as a natural part of the new wave of English whisky. At last autumn\u2019s London Whisky Show, I had the chance to scratch a little lottery ticket at their stand, and what I won was a sample of a 12-year-old English whisky matured in a French oak cider cask. Tonight, it\u2019s finally time to taste it!<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>
My lottery price!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

English Apple Brandy 12 Years Old \u2013 Single Cask No. 141<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Matured in a single French oak cider cask
Selected by The London Distillery Company
71.1% ABV<\/em><\/p>\n

Nose:<\/strong><\/h3>\n

A huge hit of black wine gums \u2014 seriously, a lot<\/em> of them. Then marzipan, applesauce and clove. There\u2019s also something that almost hints at arrack without tipping over into rum-like sweetness, plus a note of buttery shortbread. Such an interesting nose!<\/p>\n

Palate:<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The flavour follows the same overall profile as the nose but with a lot more punch, and far less oaky bitterness than I expected. That said, the whisky is extremely strong and really needs water before I can analyse it properly (or enjoy drinking it).
I add water and keep tasting \u2014 and now things start to happen! Half-bitter sweet liquorice (those little tubes with all the holes from the Gott & Blandat mix), butter cookies, apple pie, coconut, and now the oak bitterness I couldn\u2019t find earlier finally appears.<\/p>\n

Verdict:<\/strong><\/h3>\n

This is a very fun whisky, one I\u2019d happily revisit. I found the nose slightly stronger than the palate, but what a great reminder that cider casks deserve much more attention from the whisky world. And it\u2019s refreshing to see an English distillery that doesn\u2019t try to imitate a \u201ctraditional\u201d or Scottish style. I really do hope The London Distillery Company survives this time \u2014 because there\u2019s real potential here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some stories in the whisky world feel almost too cinematic to be true. The London Distillery Company is one of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-okategoriserade-en"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6PMD0-BB","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.anglarnasandel.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.anglarnasandel.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.anglarnasandel.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.anglarnasandel.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.anglarnasandel.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2331"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.anglarnasandel.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2331\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2333,"href":"http:\/\/www.anglarnasandel.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2331\/revisions\/2333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.anglarnasandel.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.anglarnasandel.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.anglarnasandel.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}