There is always a sense of excitement walking up to a new distillery. As I got off the tube at North Acton it’s not necessarily the first place you’d expect to find one. However with awards behind them and an exciting view on the future, it was a delight to meet Dariusz Plaewski and his team. Bimber Distillery gets it’s name from the Polish word for moonshine – popular in the communist era in Poland and it’s from a moonshining family that Dariusz gained some great knowledge in spirit production.

The production area itself is quite compact but full of ideas and innovation.

Grain is sourced about as locally as it can be in central London – a few miles down the A4 and floor malted at Warminster. There is a lovely sweetness in the malted barley and this sweet graininess is a feature through the range that Dariusz is creating.

Column and Spirit Stills

There is a small mash tun which takes on 250kg of grain per mash. After sparging, around 1000l of clear wort is transferred to either one of three stainless steel fermentors or into the glorious looking new wooden wash back. It’s a genuinely beautiful looking vessel and made by Dariusz through his skills in a previous working life. There are further nice touches of innovation in the equipment around the distillery with the recirculating of heat to a hot liquor tank or the temperature control arrangement on the fermenters – not necessarily so common in a craft distillery. By keeping the temperature in check the single yeast strain is allowed a bit more time to work on the wort with the wash fermenting for around 5 to 6 days and an impressive 10-12% abv liquid being created.

The stunningly crafted wooden wash back

On to the Portuguese wash still of around 1000l capacity, then the spirits still coming in at 600l or so with an abv off this of around 70%. The aroma of oak which meets you on entering the site is fantastic  and currently Bimber are filling into a mixture of virgin US Oak, first fill Bourbon, sherry and port barrels. Typically these are around 250l or so in size but there are some experimental smaller casks being filled also.

As Dariusz explains:

“While I love the distinction each of the oaks is already bringing to the spirit I want to have a style that is definitely Bimber – that is our own –  and then we can maybe have variations from that.”

Spirit undergoing maturation

When I asked about possibilities of peated production he smiles and indicates it’s not currently on the cards but maybe something that could be used for specials in the future.

While Dariousz is madly passionate about whisky Bimber has been winning awards for some of it’s other spirits. For gin the same spirit stills are used and in addition there is a column rectifier for his vodka production. There are various products available in both gin and vodka with beautifully designed packaging which Ewelina looks after.

With the Bimber Eagle looking forward I’m sure there’s a very positive and imaginative future lying ahead.

Our tastings from Bimber next week will feature distillery samples as well as finished product! Look out for this.