Joe Brayford From City Of London Distillery Artwork

Cocktails Distilled

At Cocktails Distilled want to help you to make cocktails at home. In this podcast, we talk to distillers and makers about particular varietals they have created - what they are, why they created them and, more importantly, in what cocktails that particular expression works best. So if there is a brand of gin, whiskey or whatever, that you've been thinking of buying, then we can help you know more about it and exactly how to use it.

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Cocktails Distilled

Joe Brayford From City Of London Distillery

November 13, 2019 • Cocktail Collective • Season 1 • Episode 23

The City of London Distillery open in 2012 and was the first gin distillery in the ENGLISH CAPITAL IN OVER 200 YEARs. Through their gins they have not only explored a variety of gin styles but also the history of gin-making in the city itself.

Starting with a pair of 200L copper stills named Clarissa and Jennifer (after ‘The Two Fat Ladies’ of the BBC food show), the distillery has gone on to win awards and show the variety of expressions that micro-distilling can produce.

We talk to Joe Brayford the brand ambassador for City of London about the logistics of running a distillery in the centre of such a busy city, we talk about range but in particular their Six Bells expression and of course what cocktails you can make with it.

Joe, there hadn’t been a distillery in London for nearly two centuries, what made you think to open one?

And from what I understand there were a lot of gin distilleries around this area?

Now why did he choose to call it City of London?

And logistically, I mean how difficult is it to ... I mean being where you are in terms of things like storage and stills and ...

Do you bottle here as well?

Talking about the fact that you're a small batch distiller, do you think that the small batch distillers have really changed the nature of what gin is today over the last five to eight years?

What have you guys done particularly in terms of experimentation since you opened?

Now you mentioned the Square Mile. Can you quickly run through the range of gins that you do make?

Now with the Five Bells, you were talking about the distillation. Do you want to go into a little bit more detail about that?

How does vacuum distillation work?

Is it a common distillation?

When you talk about lowering the pressure, do you mean the pressure within the still itself or ...?

Now you mentioned Six Bells. Where does the name come from?

You talked about lemon being quite predominant with the Six Bells. What other botanicals do you highlight?

Now if someone were to buy a bottle of the Six Bells, what would you suggest they do with it? How should they first use it?

So it's quite an adaptable gin?

Did you guys actually invent any specific cocktails for that gin?

Now what has the reaction of bartenders been to that particular gin?

Now have you experimented at all with food pairings for this gin?

The brand and the distillery have been going for nearly seven years. What do you think are the biggest hurdles for the brand at the moment? I mean, especially being a small craft.

You talk about things like the Six Bells being straddling both traditional and what some would call gateway gins. Do you think that that's the way forward? Do you think that that is how gin is going to move?

So you think the renaissance hasn't been coming to an end yet?

Now what are the future plans for City of London Distillery?

What about your distribution? I mean obviously you're available in the UK. Are you UK wide?