Foragers Distillery Interview

Visit to Snowdonia Distillery

In November 2021, myself (Lewis) and Liam went to visit the Snowdonia Distillery in Snowdonia, Wales. We watched as a new distil was being built, and also had the opportunity to try a few of the products. We were blown away by some of the products we sampled, and also managed to try a couple of new products (which unfortunately I cannot mention just yet!), which were absolutely mind-blowingly good.

We were greeted by Rhys, who generally oversees everything in the distillery, from ensuring the stills are in full working order to creating new blends. I managed to interview Rhys about his job and what goes on at the incredible Snowdonia Distillery.

Questions for Rhys

Q. What is a distillery and why did you choose this location?

A. “Most simply a distillery is where spirits are created for people to enjoy exactly how they want them. It is a fascinating process, when I first started the master distiller called ‘A Distillery - A Chemistry Set For Adults’, and that’s exactly how it feels. As for why we chose this location, we have a direct access to Snowdonia’s famously smooth water with next to no minerals, which means it has next to no impact on the flavour of our spirits we have to account for, as well as being located in an area with good transport links allowing us to send our amazing products nearly anywhere with ease, to share the magic of Foragers with everyone.”

Q. Which lines do you distil here and how do they differ from one another?

A. “We have 3 core lines each with subdivisions. Firstly, we have Foragers, our Gin, which has 4 variations as of now. A Yellow label, Black label, Sloe Gin and Winberry Gin. Each one distinct from the other, for a more traditional earthy dry gin, black label is the one for you. Using only 2 botanicals we have created a bold and powerful gin the earthy, deep Juniper with a hint of spice is a warm welcome at the beginning which then mellows and slowly morphs into a kiss of citrus on the palette, leaving you wanting more. For a lighter gin, we have our yellow label a sweeter start, still with the juniper opening the profile before quickly giving way to notes of apple and elderberry, as the elderberry fades the heather makes a brief appearance all while having a charming overhanging note of chamomile. Our Sloe Gin, while remaining familiar to fans of sloe retains its Welsh uniqueness, smooth, sweet with a touch of citrus and a playful hint of spice on the finish, this spirit is not one to be slept on! Next we have our 2 vodkas, known as Y Bet or “The Beet” due to being based on a sugar beet spirit, both incredibly smooth spirits, with the main difference between them being that with the rose it is distilled with beetroot to give it a more playful and slightly more complex palate taking you on a rollercoaster of sweet and earth. And Finally our El Rumbo line, a beautiful Cuban white rum that we have aged in fresh wet cognac casks, giving it an infinitely interesting character between the sweet rum and the woody molasses from the casks to give you a more superior mixing rum that can easily fill any roll in any drink.”

Q. What are botanicals and why are they so important?

A. “Botanicals are the ingredients used to give a spirit its flavour. The same way a Chef would call a tomato an ingredient, we call Juniper a botanical, the word also means a substance obtained from a plant, the substance we are interested in as distillers are the oils in each and they are instrumental for the process of distillation here at Snowdonia. During the distillation and maceration processes, the oils in each botanical start to break down and infuse into the alcohol giving it it’s flavour. If we didn’t have them, the drinks would have very next to no flavour and no character.”

Q. How long does the distilling process typically take and how do you know when the distilling process is complete?

A. “Different spirits require different lengths of time, Foragers by far the longest as we macerate of botanicals for 2 weeks before it even enters the still, then on a distillation day the process can take between 4 to 6 hours, but we like to go slow here, to get as much flavour we can out of each batch, the vodka however is much quicker with no maceration and fewer botanicals means the vodka normally takes only 4 hours. We tell when the process is finished by taste, the end portion of a distillation is what we call the tail and we keep this separate, taking regular samples. The majority of which we say as having a ‘green’ flavour, which can only be described as biological, most of which is actually rather sweet. But very quickly turns bitter, as soon as the bitter note rears its head, we know it’s time to cut the still and finish that distillation.”

Q. Who and how many people does each line have to go through before official production starts?

A. “With new products, the main idea can come from anyone involved in the distillery and it’s processes, once the idea has been agreed with Chris, the master distiller and Ron, our director, we can start to think of the best way to get the fullest flavour for our product. Depending on materials needed to prepare, it can take anywhere from a week to a month before a small prototype will be ready, and any changes to be made to the recipe and then scale that up, ready for labelling and distribution.”

Q. Which is your personal favourite?

A. “Mine, 100% is the Foragers Yellow Label. I’ve been hard pressed to find a mixer that this gin cannot either compliment or improve, the forward earthy sweetness and floral middle notes and the spectacular juniper overhanging the full experience and giving a wonderfully cheeky spice on the finish. I find it the wonderfully versatile, yet still with more than enough character to stand on its own.”

Q. What does an average day look like for you at the distillery?

A. “I wish I could tell you, but there are no average days, which is one of the many reasons I love my job. Weeks vary massively from R&D to a week full of distilling, bottling, waxing the bottles, labelling, and boxing, we constantly have a slew of ideas we wish to pursue and always new people we are in contact with, to see how our products can be made and improved. We are also constantly adding more to the distillery itself, be it in minor construction, decoration, botanicals, or facilities necessary to do what we want with the spirits we produce.”

I think it’s fair to say that there’s lots going on at the Foragers Distillery, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time there.

I hope you all learnt something new from this article, and hopefully it urges you to try some of the Foragers products we have available.

- Lewis